Rise of the Guardians: Dark Nights
by RealDone Universe
Summary: [Post Film] The Guardians assemble as several children in San Fransokyo fall into comas and are trapped in their dreams. When a gifted child is discovered to be able to deflect the attacks on children carried out by mysterious beings, they join forces with him and journey to the Dream Realm to rescue the captives.
1. Dusk

**DUSK**

SCREAMS, FIERY guitars and thunderous drums filled his ears, his room and environment snuffed out by the music in his headsets. Posters of superheroes, movies and rock bands filled the walls, his table cluttered likewise with towering novels, comic books and videogame CDs stacked in racks near its edge.

Lowering his head, he squinted as the early morning light stung his eyes, gaining a small grunt as he concentrated on his latest masterpiece. Cracking his knuckles, he sat back, putting his stylus pen aside as he lifted his tablet, smiling to himself. On its screen was a picture of a hero he created, his attire comprising of red and black plated armour and goggles, all designed and structured for speed and flexibility.

Smirking, he saved his work and swiped the program aside to stop his music and put the tablet down. Looking at the clock, he groaned, kicking the table to slide himself toward the wardrobe to his right. He stood, picking a backpack and left his room, entering the hall a woman trod into.

"Tom, time to get ready for school …" She raised her brow as he walked past.

"Yeah, I'm ready." He pocketed his phone.

"Uh, aren't you a lil early to get going?"

"I know." He turned, smirking. "Bye, mum."

"Okay." She sighed, shaking her head amusedly.

Leaving the house, he entered the garage, pulled out his bike, mounted it and rode down the street. Checking his wristwatch, he smiled to himself as he headed for school, much earlier than everyone else as he went past the newspaper boy.

* * *

THREE BOYS entered a classroom, laughing amongst themselves when they saw Tom seated in the corner of the room. Raising his brow, a blonde boy frowned as he approached him, groaning as he saw him wearing Beats by Dre and hum to himself.

"Yo, McCarthy." He tapped his shoulder.

"Yeah." Tom frowned, sliding his headsets off.

"What's the deal? Thought you hated school, but you're the first one here." The blonde boy took a seat across from him.

"Waiting for something?" A black boy sat beside him. "Is it cuz of Mia?"  
"Don't start that crap, Jordan, this has nothing to do with her." Tom slid his headsets back on. "And it's Mary, not Mia."

Shaking his head, Jordan, lifted his hands defensively. "A'ight, man, it's cool, it's cool."

"Tom, you know it's rude to wear headsets when people are talking to you." A redheaded boy smacked them off his head.

"Quit it, Nick!" Tom stood up.

"Well, why're you here so early?" The blonde boy folded his arms.

Tom's eyes darted around and he smirked. "I've been coming up with a plan to ditch sch –,"

"Oh, man, you still on that, bro?" Jordan raised his brow.

"We're nearing the seventh grade, thought you'd try to act more mature." Nick frowned.

"What'd Mia think of it?" The blonde boy teased.

"Y'know, I think you're trying to piss me off." Tom's brows stitched.

"Is it working?"

"Ugh, just listen to me." Tom picked up his headsets and sat down. "The first idea I had was maximizing my time outta school, so I'd wake up three or so hours earlier to get some work done." He huffed. "Obviously, that didn't work cuz I nodded off in class multiple times."

"Yeah." Nick chuckled. "Then you started singing the My Little Pony theme song."

"I told you, it was because of a damn commercial that got stuck in my head!" Tom frowned, his face flushed.

"I doubt they put the entire theme song in thirty second commercials." Jordan laughed.

"Weird how you know their exact length." The blonde boy sat back.

"What, you calling me out, Eric?" He frowned.

"Anyway, since all else has failed, I'll just go back to my old idea: pranks." Tom stuffed his books in his bag as students filled the class.

"So, your plan for quitting school permanently is to do pranks every single day?" Jordan raised his brow.

"How're you gonna keep that up anyway?" Nick frowned slightly.

"Trust me." Tom grinned. "Got it covered."

The room filled up quickly and the lessons began, the war for alertness ensuing as Tom felt his eyelids grow heavy. Despite knowing that all-nighters were a bad idea, he knew that his plan would succeed. Six years of confinement in the prison of mind-numbing boredom would pay off in a few minutes. As he expected, the intercom beeped, grabbing the students' attention as the principle's high-pitched voice came through.

"Attention, students, I'd like for us to meet in the hall if you please." She paused then growled. "Right now!"

The teacher groaned and gestured for the students to leave the class. Tom chuckled to himself and Nick frowned at him. "Man, what'd you do?"

"You'll see." Tom smirked.

Entering the hall, he stifled back a laugh as he saw students file in. Lowering his head, he squeezed through the crowd, submerging into in the cluster as he headed for the exit. Peeping over his shoulder to see if the students were far enough, he pushed the doors open and ran into the schoolyard.

Moving down the pavement, he chuckled to himself as he saw that the guard had just left. Everything was going to plan and he was close to the prize when he felt someone grab him. Turning, he saw Mary, a white-haired girl with pink streaks clad in a Hello Kitty hoody, black shorts and sneakers.

"Tom, where're you going?"

"Ah, c'mon, I'm nearly out." He groaned.

"You're gonna get punished for this." Her brows furrowed as she let go of his hand.

"I won't if I get outta here right now."

"You seriously think it'll end here? If you do get home, you'll just get in trouble with your parents and they'll ground." She folded her arms. "That's much worse than spending a few hours than going home to your superhero designs."

"I had a plan." He whispered.

"Am all ears." She frowned slightly.

"…" He glanced to his right, making her look and ran for the gate.

"Oh, Tom, really?" She raised her brow.

"Hey, what're you doing?" The guard walked up to them.

Tom groaned. "God dammit." He sighed. "I'll take myself to the principal's office." He stooped as he headed back to class.

"Sorry, sir." Mary smiled uneasily and followed Tom.

* * *

"WHAT IS this like the fifth time this month?" Martha folded her arms.

"Tom, what's going on?" Ben frowned.

Lowering his head, Tom looked to his side, pretending to be deaf though he knew the attempt was futile even as a six year old. Glancing at his blonde-haired parents who sat across from him in the small living room, he huffed as he awaited his punishment.

"Tom, y'know this is pointless, right?" Ben raised his brow. "You got Mary implicated and she nearly got detention cuz of you. You're eleven, haven't you grown outta this yet."

"I have." Tom mumbled.

"Then why're you acting like a seven year old? This isn't a cartoon like Kids Next Door or some old crap where things actually work out. This is the real world and there're consequences for your actions." Martha leaned toward him.

"So, grounded for a couple weeks?" Tom's brow curved.

"No, we've done that way too many times already." Ben sat back. "Go back to your room, do whatever you want, but this is not gonna repeat itself."

"Whoa, really?" Tom's face lit up.

"Yeah, but think while you're up there." Ben frowned. "Stan Lee, Hiro Mashima and all those authors you idolize _needed_ school to become who they are today. Being a rebel won't get you anywhere."

"Tell that to Han Solo." Tom muttered.

"What?" Ben turned to him.

"Thanks, dad." Tom got up and headed for the stairs.

Hearing the faint voices of his parents discussing his behaviour, he went up to his room. Locking himself in it, he breathed in deeply and sat at his table, returning to his designs. He scoffed as he grabbed his stylus pen, dismissing his parents' lecture.

* * *

MARY DISMOUNTED her floral decorated bike and walked up to her front door, sighing as she opened it and entered the foyer. She walked through her house, ignored by her older sisters who, as usual, sat around the living room talking to their boyfriends.

Moving up the stairs, she went down the hall and greeted her mother who responded passively. She entered her room and smiled to herself, taking in the My Little Pony, Fairy Tail and classic Disney princess poster-laden walls and floral printed tablecloth, carpet and sheets.

Taking a seat, she pulled out a sheet of paper and crayon and began shading. After hours of work, she'd cluttered up her table with a pair of scissors, beads and straw, her craftsmanship held in hand. With a wide smile, she left the room.

* * *

A REDHEADED woman sat in a living room, barely watching TV as she spoke on the phone. Glancing at Mary who walked up to her with a grin, she cut the call and put on a smile as her daughter approached.

"Hey, sweetie, what is it?" Grace smiled.

"I just wanted to say." Mary giggled and held out a bracelet. "Happy Birthday."

"Oh, you remembered." Grace received it and gasped. "It's pretty."

"Took me all afternoon to make it." Mary held her hands behind her, fidgeting excitedly. "So, you like it?"

"I love it." Grace studied the bracelet then stopped at the centre of it. "What's this?"

"It's the map of Africa."

"No, I mean the butterfly design."

"Well, I thought I could put a fairy on it, but I failed to." Mary huffed. "It's still good, right?"

"Yeah, sure, honey, but." Grace sighed. "Shouldn't you grow outta this stuff?"

"What do you mean?" Mary's brows stitched.

"Fairies, magic and all of that stuff; it's not real."

"It is real." Mary frowned.

"How can a human being be that small? Human's can't fly yet alone have wings." Grace raised her brow.

"Fairies aren't humans, but they're real."

"So, where are they then?"

Mary sighed and lowered her head, shaking it as Grace sat back and looked at her daughter. She grew tired of such arguments, though her daughter persisted in believing the impossible. It had to end.

"Look, I know what you're gonna say." Grace interrupted Mary. "They live in the grass or Neverland or something like that, but Mary, those are cartoons, for children eight and below; you should've graduated out of that age group."

"I have." Mary turned to her.

"Then what's all this stuff?" Grace held the bracelet. "Huh? Look, I love the bracelet, but your belief in magic has to end; you need to grow up at some point."

"You're never too old to believe, plus; I'm not even twelve." Mary frowned.

"Growing up is in the mind, honey, you should know that." Grace put the bracelet down. "You need to think quicker than other kids cuz life's not all peachy. One day, your dad n' I might not be here, what'd you do?"

"I'll make jewellery."

"Outta straw and papier-mâché?" Grace raised her brow. "Why can't you be innovative like your sisters?"

"Mom, I'm an eleven year old, I can't make jewellery outta metal and dad would never let me use welding tools – if I ever wanted to use them anyway. And I am innovative; people _do_ make money out of jewellery."

"Well, it's about time you take some real steps towards that goal, Mary." Grace sat back. "You can't spend your life daydreaming about cartoons and finger painting. Look at your sister Sarah who's in medical school or Cher and Charlotte who're gonna be actresses cuz they're working hard and pursuing realistic careers."

Mary frowned and sighed. "Mom, why can't you just let me be a kid for once? Why can't I be who I am? I can't go to medical school and I'm not an actress; I'm still in middle school. Why don't you appreciate anything I do?"

"Honey, I appreciate it, this bracelet is lovely and you'd be a great Jewellery Designer, but you need to get your head out of the sandbox."

Mary's lips quivered as she fought back tears. "Happy Birthday, mom." She left the room and Grace sighed.

* * *

MARY ENTERED her room and threw herself on her bed, blowing at her bangs as she stared at the ceiling. Wiping a tear at the edge of her eye, she sighed and thought of what to do next. There had to be someone else who'd believe her; magic was real.

* * *

A KNOCK came at the door and Tom headed down the stairs toward the foyer. Opening it, he groaned, finding Mary standing there with a smile on her face. Huffing he walked away from her when she cleared her throat, making him turn to her.

"Is that any way to greet your wife?" She raised her brow.

"What!?" He jerked back, his face flushed. "Don't come here and pull that Natsu Lisanna crap on me!"

"I'm kidding, just wanted to see that look on your face." She chuckled.

He groaned. "What do you want?"

"Well." She tapped her thumbs. "Are you free? Wanted you to take me to the park."

"Shouldn't I have come to your house then?"

"Well, I'm sure you wouldn't have, so c'mon." She grabbed his hand. "I wanna show you something."

"Ugh, let go of me."

"You're not even resisting." She giggled, making him blush.

"Fine." He frowned. "But it'd better be good cuz I was busy."

"Trust me, it's gonna be great." She laughed.

* * *

TOM AND Mary trod down a footpath through a large park filled with people reading and kids frolicking about. Ducking from a Frisbee, Tom pocketed his hands and turned to Mary who smiled at him, making him turn away.

"Uh, so, what're trying to show me?" He looked around.

"A secret friend of mine."

"Who?"

"You'll know him when you meet him." She lowered her head, tapping her fingers. "I'm just shy to talk to him is all." She glanced at him, seeing him frown slightly. "Relax, he's no competition for you."

"I didn't say that!" He frowned.

She giggled then sighed. "I was wondering if you could talk to him for me."

He huffed. "Fine, let's get this crap over with."

"Okay, let's go find him." She grabbed his arm, dragging him along.

The two ran around the park, Tom being dragged along as they searched for Mary's friend. After a while, he grew impatient and pulled his hand out of hers, making her raise her brow.

"Okay, look, did you plan to meet this secret friend here or something? Cuz it seems like we're just running around for no reason." He frowned.

"He's usually here, he hangs around the park a lot." She looked around.

"Who is he?" He pocketed his hands.

"I can't say." She glanced around. "You'll find out when we find him."

"Does this guy wear dark coats, give out candy and drive a van?" He raised his brow.

"No, I'm not stupid." She spun around and gasped. "I found him. C'mon." She grabbed his hand.

He groaned as she dragged him along, irritated by her antics though he didn't put up any resistance. Running up to a bench, she stopped and chuckled uneasily, turning to him with an excited smile.

"Um, I haven't really known what to say to him, but here he is; Jack Frost!" She gestured at the empty park bench.

"Oh, c'mon not this crap again." He sighed and began to walk away.

"Where're you going? He's right here." She followed him.

"Look, I'm not gonna go through that whole arc the kids in the movie did; Jack Frost isn't real." He frowned.

"Yes, he is, he's sitting on that bench right now!" She grabbed his arm.

"Okay, explain how some random kid ends up falling through ice and comes back as a cane wielding ice wizard?"

"He's not a wizard; he's a Guardian of Childhood."

"Whatever he is, do you have any proof that he exists?" He folded his arms.

"Yeah, he's sitting right there." She pointed at the empty park bench.

Tom frowned and walked on. "You need to get your head out of the sandbox."

Mary tried to follow him, but stopped, her lips quivering as she looked around. Turning to the park bench, she frowned and followed Tom, wiping away a tear that crept at the corner of her eye.

Jack sighed as he watched the two walk away, tapping his cane on the ground as he sifted his mind. There had to be something he was missing, a solution had to be out there somewhere, but he couldn't figure it out. Rising from the bench, he pulled down his hood and flew away.

* * *

A PORTAL opened at the summit of a glacier and Jack stepped out of it, letting it close behind him. He looked over the icy landscape, seeing a large ice castle floating in the dim skies. Flying over the chasm between them, he entered the building, opening the heavy doors with the swing of his staff, walking down the massive foyer. The door creaked open behind him and he turned to see Tooth walking up to him, smiling uneasily.

"Hey, Jack."

"Hey. What're you doing here?" He put the pen down.

"What're you doing?" She looked around shyly.

"Well, just got home, so nothing much." He shrugged.

"Um." She walked up to him. "You wanna come somewhere with me?"

"Where?"

"Around on tonight's run. This's the only time since Pitch's attack that I'm going on the field, so I thought it'd be great if you came along again."

"Yeah, but I'm kinda … busy." His brows furrowed as he began to walk along.

"C'mon, returning to your flying fortress away from everyone? All night? It's only 6pm." She followed him. "It'll be fun."

He frowned slightly then shook his head, donning a smile. "Okay, let's go."

"Alright." She took off and he followed her.

* * *

LIGHTS IN the suburbs went off one by one, as if following them as Tooth and Jack soared over the neighbourhood. Looking around excitedly, she watched as the min-fairies flew into different houses, covering a large part of the area.

"Okay, y'know the drill, right?" She turned to him.

"Yep, I've done it before." He shook his bag of coins.

"Which house do we start with?" She looked around.

He pointed to his left. "Maybe that one."

"Okay, let's go."

Tooth and Jack swooped down, landing on its roof and walked over to the edge of it, looking down at the street below. Seeing a man walking across the street, they hopped over and Tooth phased through a wall, entering a bedroom. Jack climbed through the window, seeing a readymade bed and searched around and in the bathroom.

Jack leaned against the wall. "Kid's a late sleeper?"

"Not really, but she might be busy or something." Tooth sat on the windowsill.

"Guess we'll have to wait." He folded his arms.

"Yeah." She shrugged and looked around the room. She sighed and turned to him. "Y'know, I've always wanted to do this often, go on the field."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. It's just that I've been so busy keeping tabs on children, making schedules on when to collect teeth and adding new-born babies to the list that I don't have time to really interact with them." She chuckled. "Never even seen kids in other continents, y'know, Afrisia, Eurostralia; never been anywhere else other than Amersia."

"Well, at least I have a reason cuz my powers don't work everywhere, like Afrisia so I'd end up stuck there and I'd have to call you guys for help."

"At least you've got a choice, I have to work extra hard to get a day to go on the field like today; your job's easier."

"Yeah … it is." He frowned.

She turned to him, her brows furrowing. "Is something wrong, Jack?"

"… N-no, it's-it's nothing."

"You seem down lately, especially when anyone mentions your job. You okay?"

"It's nothing, I'm just … a lil tired is all. I'm fine."

She smiled slightly. "Okay."

Jack sat back and huffed, looking around the room and at the beside clock. "Hey, is there a kid in this house?"

"Yeah, an Emily Swanson, age eight."

"Well, where is she? A kid that young would've passed out by 11pm."

"That is strange." She got on the floor and looked around. "Where'd she be?"

"Maybe her family's out or something?"

"Maybe." She headed for the door. "Let's just check before we leave; might be in another room."

He walked up to her as she phased through the door when she heard a small chirping sound behind her. A mini-fairy phased through the window, flying frantically up to them and landed on Tooth's shoulder, squeaking in a panic.

"Baby Tooth, what is?" She held the sprite, listening to it squeak. "What!?"

"What is it?" Jack raised his brow.

"Baby Tooth says there're no kids in their beds." She turned to him.

"In the whole neighbourhood?"

"Yeah."

"How?" Jack frowned.

"I dunno." Tooth turned to Baby Tooth. "Are you sure you've checked everywhere?" The sprite nodded and she turned to Jack. "What's going on here?"

"I dunno." Jack walked up to the window and looked outside. "Something's wrong." He frowned. "Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Sandy's sand around here."

"What?" She walked up to him.

"Look for yourself." Jack gestured at the clear night sky. "If kids would be asleep, we'd have seen Sandy's sand all over, but there's nothing."

"Something's definitely wrong." Tooth frowned. "C'mon, we've gotta get back to the Workshop."

"Yeah." Jack nodded.

Leaving the room, the three flew out of the house, followed by a stream of mini-fairies as they left the neighbourhood. Looking at the streets below, Jack frowned as he saw very little sand in the sky.

* * *

BUNNY SCRAPED a blade against the wood of his boomerang, smiling to himself as he sheathed it and stood as North entered the room along with Sandy who hovered behind him. Moving up to the Globe, the three stared at it concernedly as the lights flickered.

"Okay, I'm just gonna come out and say it; I dunno what we're doing right now." Bunny turned to him.

"There's an emergency, Bunny, but we have to wait until the others arrive." North turned to him.

"Shouldn't we signal them then?"

"I don't need to."

The door swung open and Jack and Tooth walked in. Jack looked at the others and then at the Globe. "Guys, what's going on here?"

"We've got a situation." North gestured at the Globe. "At around yesterday morning, Sandy discovered that several children have fallen into catatonia."

"How?" Bunny frowned.

"We're yet to find out so I thought it'd be best to discuss how we should uncover this mystery."

"How severe is it?" Tooth's brows furrowed.

"We're not sure, but it seems the majority of incidences have occurred in San Fransokyo." North turned to the Globe. "This means it's no accident."

"Someone's causing this? Who?" Bunny raised his brow.

"I'd say Pitch, but we already dealt with him. He shouldn't be able to recover for another century or so because children are no longer afraid of him with us guarding them." North folded his arms. "It's obviously an attack, but I doubt that it's him."

"So, what do we do now?" Jack walked up to him.

"We find out what's going on and fix the problem at the source, the Dream Realm." North turned to him.

"Whoa, you mean we're gonna see where Sandman lives?" Tooth smiled and he nodded.

"We'll need to do this as a team." North turned to the others. "Whoever's behind this must have immense magical power so we'll need the full force of the Guardians to defeat whoever it is."

"Alright, finally got somethin' to do since Easter already past." Bunny brandished his boomerangs.

"Sandy, open the portal." North turned to him. "We need to move in now before something else happens to those children."

Sandy nodded and walked up to the centre of the room, away from the others and held his hands together. Breathing deeply, his body glowed and sand exuded out of him as he pointed his hands forward, weaving them into a spiral that swerved and emitted a bright light and forming a portal.

Smirking, he gestured for the others to proceed and he walked up to it and began to hover. Purple energy exploded out of the portal, knocking Sandy back as it disintegrated. Tooth quickly caught him before he fell, seeing him wince.

"Whoa!" Bunny ran up to him.

"Sandy, are you alright?" North frowned, receiving a nod from him.

"What happened?" Jack turned to Sandy.

"Uh, guys?" Tooth pointed forward.

Turning, the Guardians jerked back in surprise, North's mouth falling agape as he frowned. Two purple energy scythes floated upside down in an 'X' position where the portal used to be.

"What is that?" Fear dilated Tooth's eyes.

"… Death …" North frowned.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, be sure to expect another one soon. This fic will try to delve deep and try to be realistic, so reviews would be very helpful in pointing us in the right path. Also, if you simply enjoyed or have any questions, please leave it in a review.

 **As always, Follow, Favourite and Review and Await the Awesomeness as we dive deeper into the universe. Thanks for reading.**


	2. Lines

**LINES**

SITTING BACK, Tom sipped his soda as he stood before a chart on the wall of his room, several papers tacked along with pieces of newspapers and photographs. Brandishing his marker, he drew several lines on the board, connecting different items and pictures as he reached the centre and circled the name of a city: San Fransokyo. He stepped back when he felt someone pull headsets off his head, making him jerk in surprise and turn to see Mary standing behind him with her signature grin.

"What're you doing here?" He frowned.

"Not gonna say 'hi'? Thought I taught you manners, young man." She crossed her arms.

"We're the same age!" He growled.

"I know, I just love messing with you." She chuckled.

"What're you doing in my room?" He placed the cup on the desk.

"You're mom told me to come here." She looked around. "Seems nothing's changed cuz you're still playing with dolls." She picked a Captain America action figure off a shelf.

"There're not dolls!" He grabbed it from her and put it on the table. "Why'd she tell you to come? We're not friends."

"But you come over all the time."

"That's cuz she sends me over." He frowned.

"She called me using your phone." She smirked.

"I don't have your number."

"I may have put it there when you weren't looking." She tapped her fingers together and smiled cutely.

"That's invasion of privacy!"

"You didn't delete it or she wouldn't have called me with it." She grinned smugly.

He groaned and turned away from her, his face flushed. "Please, just go."

"I'll leave soon enough, Sherlock." She patted his shoulder and moved up to the billboard. "What's your latest case, detective? Watson at your service."

"You're a girl." He turned to her.

"Did Sherlock have a girl sidekick?" Her brow curved.

"No."

"Then I'm a fanfic OC, Wanda." She turned back to the board.

He scoffed. "I hate fanfiction." He picked up a marker off the table. "Buncha bad writers uniting to dump their crap online and claim it's literature."

"C'mon, they're not all bad."

"Okay, mention any fanfic you've read that's good." He turned to her then interrupted her. "And popular." He cut her off. "And doesn't have weird shipments, bad grammar, slow plots and lame dialogue."

She stroked her chin. "Hmm … well, there's – ah, no, it's yaoi … uh … there's – okay, I've got nothing." She shrugged.

"I rest my case." He uncovered the marker.

"You do know you're in a fic, right?" She crossed her arms.

"Doesn't stop me from stating facts."

"So, what're you doing?" She studied the board.

"Working on my merged world theory."

"Oh, c'mon, you're still on that?" She shook her head.

"Come on, Mary; think about it, the Dark Day can't have been a coincidence." He turned to her.

"You think there's an explanation for it?"

"I can't explain it, but these things are connected."

"What is? Just like Peter's board from The Amazing Spider-Man 2." She sat on the table.

"But this isn't meaningless. Over the past year, many strange things have been occurring around the city. There was the unexplained blackout, the sightings of a black Baymax, the –,"

"The blackout was explained; Krei Tech was behind it."

"But the case was closed right after the freak incident of a Silent Sparrow gateway appearing in a suburb." He frowned.

"… Your point?"

"There is no way a gateway that big could be taken from an island and over to the suburb without being taken apart and since it was whole, absolutely everyone would see it. The only way it could've been taken is with a Capsule Corp capsule."

"Well, Krei Tech stole from them then." She shrugged.

"Look, the case is not my concern – Capsule Corp is." He moved up to the board, pointing at the picture of a blue-haired woman and a purple-haired old man with a black cat on his shoulder. "The company has been running since the early nineties, but weirdly enough, very few people have purchased capsules."

"They're expensive? Or maybe people aren't interested in 'em."

"Mary, who wouldn't be interesting in a device that can store _anything_? It's only until four months ago that they've become popular which raises the question of how people didn't know such a big company."

"You're confusing me."

"That's because things don't add up!" He walked up to her. "After the blackout, there've been sightings of the Big Hero 6 fighting a black robot and others of them teaming up with a black robot to fight some monster then all of a sudden, Baymax gets a new paintjob. Iron Man, an Avenger, makes his first _ever_ appearance in San Fransokyo a few months ago when he's been going around the world, saving lives since 2008. The Dark Day happens, people worldwide have nightmares for weeks after that and now people have fallen into comas in _San Fransokyo_."

"You're going all conspiracy-theorist again."

"That's because something's going on; this is all connected. The world has changed and things keep happening in our city." He lifted up a book. "The world map changed a year ago and I'm the only one who noticed. My dad –,"

"Tom, please stop." She held his shoulders. "You need to stop with all these conspiracies. You're twelve, but you act like some kinda G Gordon ranting about things that nobody agrees with." She huffed. "Why don't you come outside and play with me?" She held his hand.

"No, I've got more important things to do." He frowned slightly.

"Stay here cooped up and making comic book references while breaking the fourth wall?" She raised her brow. "C'mon, we could play with your dolls, go to the park –,"

"Don't try to pull what you did last time; I don't believe in bogus stuff like magic." He sipped his soda.

"But at least it'd be more fun than scaring yourself with all of this stuff. At least let me prove to you they're real." She read his expression and smiled pleadingly. "Please? It won't take too long."

His eyes dilated as he blushed and looked away. "Fine, but don't take long." He sat on his bed.

"Okay, I've downloaded the audible version of Rise of the Guardians on my phone. It's got way more info than the movie did."

"Play it." He groaned.

Her face lit up in excitement as she sat at his desk, quickly pulling up the audio book. "You won't regret this."

"Pretty sure I will." He huffed as he rested his chin in cupped hands.

Mary placed the phone on the table and sat back as the book began, glancing at Tom as he seemed to listen to it. As time passed, worry etched a frown on her face as he nodded off a couple of time. Shaking him awake, she moved back to the desk and rewound the audio, making him groan in aggravation.

"You know what? I've got a better idea." He got up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "How's about we video ourselves sleeping to see what's causing the comas?"

"What'd that prove?" Her brow curved.

"That these comas aren't happening normally. It's a phenomenon and I think the source is external. There's no way that many people fell into it just like that." Tom moved up to the board.

"But, why ourselves? Why not test it on other people?" She stopped the audio.

"Because it's an invasion of privacy and we don't have enough cameras. Plus, if we end up as victims to it, we'd have footage to prove that something's causing this and it'd help bust the person behind it." He smiled confidently.

She sighed. "Well, I hope you at least know something about the Guardians from the book." She shrugged. "It's a first step in making you believe them."

"Sadly, I know a lot now." He grumbled.

"Good." She grinned, gaining a groan from him.

* * *

LIGHTS FLICKERED on the globe over San Fransokyo; some slow while others went off one by one, concerning Nick who studied them. Crossing his arms, he sifted his mind as Jack, Bunny and the yetis sat around the room, each having concerned expressions as they waited for him to speak. Tooth entered the room and glanced at Jack, moving over to Nick as she went past the floor tile made in remembrance of Sandy.

"So, how's he doing?" Nick turned to her.

"Shaken, but he's pulling through." She smiled slightly. "What're we gonna do now?"

"I'm trying to think, but one thing we've proven is that someone's behind the comas and they've sealed off the Dream Realm to cover their tracks."

"Nick, you know something about who we're dealing with, right?" Jack got up from his seat. "When those scythes appeared, you said 'Death'. What'd you mean by that?"

"No, it's nothing." Nick frowned.

"How is it nothing? Nobody just says 'death' when they see something surprising, unless they know what's going on."

"It's none of your concern, Jack; I can't talk about it." He turned to the globe.

"Why not?" Jack walked up to him.

"If it's who I think it is, then talking about it will be the end of the world." Nick folded his arms.

"Wait, you said the exact same thing when the Dark Day happened." Jack frowned. "What're you hiding?"

"I'm sorry, I can't talk about it."

"Hold up now, if you're keeping things to yourself, then how're we gonna work together to catch whoever's behind this? We're supposed to be a team." Bunny walked up to Nick.

"Trust me; you'd be better off not knowing." Nick stepped back from the globe and shook his head, turning to the others. "But you're right, we should go and figure out who's behind this; we don't have time to stand around. Whoever's doing this has powerful magic that's spread all over the world and is starting in San Fransokyo. That means he's using some means of travel."

"Well, count out flying because I've had my fairies searching around and they've seen nothing." Tooth shrugged.

"The only idea I've got is the Dream Realm, but it's blocked off." Jack leaned on his staff.

"Well, I've been coming across several rifts while goin' through my tunnels which have made travelling a real headache. Since they've been popping up recently, they might be used by whoever's causing all this chaos." Bunny tapped his foot on the floor, opening a tunnel.

"I'll join my fairies and keep searching the skies. Whoever it is could still be flying and we just haven't spotted him yet." Tooth flew up to the globe.

The twin doors opened and Sandy walked in, drawing the attention of the others as he hovered over to them and crossed his arms angrily. "You okay, Sandy?" Jack moved up to him and he nodded.

"Excellent, we'll need everyone's help if we're gonna catch this guy." Nick smiled.

Sand rose out of Sandy's head, forming into the shape of a spiralling portal and a miniature version of himself going into it. "You're gonna try to go in again?" Tooth's brows furrowed and he nodded. The particles weaved into him floating on his cloud. "And you need time to collect your power?" He smiled affirmatively.

"Well, we should not wait around any longer." Nick headed for the door. "Let's go find a way to catch this person and we'll exchange notes when we get back."

"And what're you gonna do?" Bunny turned to him.

"There's someone I need to speak to." Nick frowned slightly as he saw their curious expressions. "Don't worry yourselves; I'll be back before you know it." He left the room.

Creaking his neck, Bunny whirled his boomerang and dove into the tunnel he'd open, shutting it behind him. Sandy and Tooth flew off and Jack moved up to the globe, his brows stitching as he saw a light go off. Looking up at the continents, he frowned as he held his staff tightly and hovered toward a nearby window.

* * *

THE SUN'S early morning rays dimmed in the grey skies, casting a shadow over a sea of ice that was obscured by a thick clouds that filled the area. Stepping onto a glacier, Jack looked around the icy plane, his staff planted firmly at his side as he looked down at a deep chasm below. He pulled his hood on and sighed, moving his foot slowly to the edge and shoving snow down below.

The powder disappeared into the darkness, making no sound as it fell and he stepped back, huffing as he paced around. He groaned and turned around, frowning as he saw a large, spiky ice stalagmite that stood tall on the glacier, its core filled with darkness that veined through it. He clenched his fist and it exploded to pieces, making him yell in anger.

He took a deep breath and walked over to the glacier's edge, looking into the chasm as wind swept past and echoed off the ice creaking below. There had to be another way, some way he'd be able to stop it from happening, but nothing came to mind. Closing his eyes and holding his breath, he walked off the cliff.

Wind swept past him as he plummeted, his body grazing on the ice and bouncing off the walls of the chasm. He huffed and stopped falling, opening his eyes and looking around as he hovered in the cleft. Flying out of the abyss, he stepped on the ice and kicked up snow, screaming angrily as he tossed the staff aside and paced around.

He looked up at the sky and saw his ice castle in the distance, the sun's orange rays reflecting off its walls glinting in the clouds. Several small dots came to view and he squinted as they drew closer, recognizing who was approaching. He summoned the staff into his hand and flew toward the figures, seeing Tooth come up to him.

"Have you found anything?" Tooth's brows furrowed as her mini-fairies hovered around her worriedly.

"No." He pulled back his hood. "I was thinking of holding a stakeout in San Fransokyo. Since the number of victims are rising there, that's most likely where the culprit will be."

"Ooh, good idea! I'll come with." She grinned. "We haven't found anything with our search anyway."

"Yeah, sure." He hovered past her. Glancing at the remains of the ice structure, he flew onward and she tailed him. "Let's hope we find what we're looking for."

* * *

WIND RUSHED around Jack as he soared through the skies, letting it shift his direction as he descended to a suburb down below. Landing on a building, he looked around as lights shut off, dimming the already dark night as the moonlight and streetlamps illuminated the street. Looking up, his brows stitched as tiny bits of Sandy's sand floated around in small strips entering some houses. Tooth flew up to him and scoped the area, followed by Baby Tooth who shared her concerned expression.

"Even here?" She turned to him.

"How's there so little sand?" He frowned. "Even if they're less kids, adults still sleep, right?"

"Maybe it's because Sandy's busy trying to open a portal – it must be taking a lot out of him." She moved onward and looked around.

"Well, let's find a place to stake out in." He walked to the roof's edge and she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, Jack; I wanna talk to you about something."

"What is it?"

"Something's bothering you and you're bottling it up; what is it?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." He forced a smile.

"Jack, I know what you did at the glacier."

"You do?" He stepped back.

"You destroyed the ice created by your fight with Pitch."

"Is that supposed to be a problem? The thing was making the place ugly and he –,"

"But you'd told me it didn't matter to you and you just wanted to forget what happened, but now you've destroyed it after you've started brooding."

"Brooding?"

"Jack, you've been so distant and sad for a while now. You're quiet, you spend a lot of time alone and you don't play with kids anymore – even those who _can_ see you. Something's wrong."

"Tooth, I'm fine; I'm just tired is all." He looked away from her.

"Jack, we're not Guardians only because we protect children; we're Guardians because we look out for each other as well. If you're troubled, we're here to help out."

He looked her in the eye and she smiled warmly, deepening his frown slightly. "It's Pitch; I can't shake the feeling that he's the one behind this."

"How? He's powerless now; children aren't afraid anymore because we're protecting them."

"Yeah, but not until the Dark Day." He turned to her. "For weeks after that day, every human being, including us, had terrible, unexplainable nightmares; that's enough fear to power Pitch up again."

"But, it can't be him; he's trapped in his own nightmares as well. Don't you remember what happened when we defeated him?"

"That never made sense to me to begin with. Sure, we beat him, but I don't understand how his own dreams imprisoned him when he _made_ them. With the widespread fear around the world, war, death, crime; he's bound to come back."

She frowned and sifted her mind. "It can't be him; he's not powerful enough to keep people in their sleep. Even in the Dark Ages, at the peak of his power, the most he could do is give people nightmares, not trap them in it."

"Well, whoever it is, we'll just have to hope we see them during the stake out." He walked to the roof's edge. "Try to find a child and watch from a safe distance; we don't wanna get spotted."

"Okay."

Jack flew off the roof and Tooth watched him leave, disbelieving his statement as she moved off the house and searched through the street. Glancing through different bedroom windows, Jack surveyed the neighbourhood and hopped off a car, jumping onto an apartment building as he eyed a home across from him. A young boy opened a window and stepped away from it.

* * *

TOM FASTENED his Batman cowl, put an Iron Man glove on his left arm, attached a Captain America shield on his right, put on Spider-Man boots, adjusted his Super-Man leotard and picked up his Thor hammer as he moved over to the light switch. Turning it off, he moved over to his bed and jumped in, choosing to sleep atop the sheets as he folded his arms and looked at the ceiling with determination.

"Villains beware for I'm …" He stroked his chin. "Super Iron Spider Captain Bat Thor America? No." He sifted his mind. "Thor, the Asgardian Bat American Superman Spider of – ah, whatever!" He turned over in his bed.

* * *

JACK YAWNED and looked at his wrist, shaking his head as he realized he didn't have a wristwatch. Scratching his head as he sat atop his staff, he looked around the street when he saw a figure shuffling across from him. Jumping back, he slid down and hid on the other side of the roof, gathering ice around him to silence his slide down the tiles. He ran along the gutter and jumped into the yard, moving up to the fence that he climbed and peeped over.

The figure moved up to Tom's house, it's dark body having an unearthly glint in the moonlight. The creature was of a humanoid build, standing at around six-feet-tall with a deep black skin and feathers that covered its back and head and reached its feet. It phased through Tom's window and Jack flew toward it, swinging his staff and gathering snow around it.

A blue energy wave exploded out of the house, leaving the building unscathed and hurling the creature into the street. Jack jerked back in surprise as the energy receded back into the building and left the being dazed. The creature disappeared and he flew up to Tom's bedroom window, seeing the energy move return into the boy's head who was in deep sleep.

Jack frowned as he moved back. "What the hell?"

* * *

 **As always, Follow, Favourite and Review and Await the Awesomeness as we dive deeper into the universe. Thanks for reading.**


	3. Uncharted Worlds

**UNCHARTED WORLDS**

NORTH STEPPED forward and glanced twice downward, failing to come to grips with the fact that there was no ground. Dark clouds spread forth as far as the eye could see; lightning flashes illuminating distant cities, forests, deserts, planets, stars and galaxies that blurred in obscurity. Taking a deep breath, he walked onward, jerking back as he saw several crows flying nearby, the sounds of chains clanging coming instead of squawks.

Turning to his right, he frowned as he saw a purple feline with a humanoid build clad in royal Egyptian clothing standing nearby with a tall, blue-skinned man with white hair dressed in a purple and black Egyptian robe. To his right came two men, one wearing a completely white attire comprised of a 4/4 jacket and trousers with a black trim with a purple belt and the other clad in a black and green robe with golden plated armour on his shoulders and wielding a staff. Lastly came two cloaked men standing to the far left, both of their faces shrouded in darkness.

The purple feline, Beerus chuckled as he looked around the plane, seeing the crows flood in overhead. "So, an Asgardian, a Shinigami and two members of a cult planning world domination; what are you doing here, Santa?"

"I never expected to see someone like you here." Weiss, the blue-skinned man, turned to North. "I mean, really."

"I don't go by that name anymore." North frowned.

"Still doesn't put you on the same level as gods." Loki stepped forward, pointing his staff at him.

"Gods? The pouting prince thinks he's finally ascended to the level of a deity?" Beerus chuckled. "Don't make me laugh."

"I've heard many rumours about the god of Destruction that leaves barren worlds in his wake, yet I've seen nothing to prove it. I am a real god; shall I show you my power?" Loki pointed his staff at him, blue energy exuding out of it.

"Bring it on boy." Beerus smirked.

"Now, now, we're not here to fight." Weiss stepped in between them. "We're all here for the same reason."

"Really?" Aizen, the man garbed in white, raised his brow. "I never expected you of all people to care about anything to seek an audience with him. What? Afraid your title really has to weight behind it." He turned to Beerus.

"You annoy me, maybe I should destroy you." Beerus frowned, purple energy exuding from his body.

Pointing his arm at Aizen, Beerus summoned an energy ball in his hand, making Weiss shake his head as he stepped back and the Shinigami reach for his Zanpakutou. With apprehensive eyes, North slowly backed away from the two as tension filled the air and Loki stood and watched from the side-lines.

"Enough!" A loud bang came from behind them.

Jerking back in fear, the seven men watched apprehensively as a large being landed behind them. Standing at nine feet tall, the creature stood up and eyed each one of them – its lean, black armoured body nearly camouflaging with clouds around it. Tapping its scythe down, he stepped forward and looked at them.

"My master will see you now." A low, booming voice came from the creature.

* * *

PLACING HIS Captain America shield beside his table, Tom took a seat at his desk and turned on his laptop, putting an SD card reader in its slot. Pulling up camera footage, he watched a recording of the previous night, watching himself sleep at around 11pm. Sipping his drink, he studied the footage carefully until he saw a glow on the window farthest from him.

Stopping the video, he rewound to the point when the energy appeared and played it at normal speed. A black creature phased through the window and looked around the room, turning to his bed as it watched him sleep. Approaching him slowly, it held its hand over his head, a black mist exuding from its hand as it reached to touch his head.

"What the hell is that?" He leaned towards the screen, squinting at the footage. A blue energy exploded out of the video Tom's head, knocking the creature out of the room, through the wall. "Whoa!" He fell off his seat.

He rewound the scene and watched it again, putting the video into an editing software to zoom in on the creature. Looking at the part over and over, he frowned and paced around the room, trying to understand what was going on. Pulling out his phone, he dialled Mary's number.

"Hello?" Her voice came.

"Mary, come over, I wanna show you something."

"Oh, so you finally used it, huh?" She chuckled. "What dress should I wear?"

"This is not a date!"  
"Sure it isn't."

He groaned. "Just come over, this is important."

"You should be thankful I gave you this number. Who else would you have called?"

"God dammit, woman, just come over!" He growled.

"Ooh, I like it when you get all tough." She giggled.

Growling, he cut the line and tossed the phone on the bed, shaking his head as he massaged the bridge of his nose. Huffing, he sat back at his desk and paused at the point when the energy exploded from his head, studying the scene.

"What the hell is going on here?" He sat back.

* * *

"ARE YOU sure about this?" Tooth's brows stitched.

"I saw what I saw." Jack turned to her. "This kid's different. You know his name?"

"He's Tomas McCarthy, age eleven; comic book enthusiast." She folded her arms. "But why him? Isn't that a little convenient? Antisocial nerd gets powers? Comic book 101 anybody?"

"He didn't seem like a nerd." He looked at the suburb below.

"So, what? You wanna just walk up to him and ask him what's going on?" she raised her brow.

"No, he won't be able to see me, but he's got a friend that watches me from afar in the park. She's a shy one, but she brought him over one time." He frowned.

"So, how do we find her? You get her name?"

"No, but they must hang out a lot; we'll just have to tail him till he finds her."

"Fine." She shrugged. "Gonna be doing a lotta these huh?"

"Or not, look." He pointed at a street across from them.

Stepping onto the driveway, Mary took a bite out of a chocolate bar as she wheeled her bike down the pavement, about to mount it. Descending from the skies, Jack landed in front of her, making her yelp in surprise. Shaking her head, Tooth flew up to him, walking up to her as she saw her back up in shock.

"Whoa, Jack Frost? Tooth Fairy?" Mary's face lit up. "W-what're you doing here?"

"We need your help." Jack walked up to her.

"You're talking to me." Mary's jaw dropped – the chocolate bar falling slipping out of her hand. "Wow …"

Tooth's brows stitched as the girl froze in place. "Mary." She shook her.

"Huh?" She shook her head.

"We need your help." Tooth stepped back.

"With what?"

"We need to talk to your friend, Tomas McCarthy." Jack leaned on his staff.

"Tom? Why?"

"We've been trying to figure out who's trapping children in their dreams, so we held a stakeout and spotted this creature trying to attack Tom."

"Whoa! Is he okay?" Mary's brow rose.

"That's what we need to talk to him about. When it attacked, he repelled it using his mind."

Her eyes drooped. "What?"

"Yeah, I'm having trouble believing it too, but we need to talk to your friend to find out what happened." Tooth knelt to look Mary in the eye. "Can you help us with that?"

"Okay, follow me." Mary wheeled her bike onward.

Mounting her bike slowly, the white-haired girl rode down the street, leading Tooth and Jack who flew behind her. Glancing at Jack, Mary smiled to herself, failing to fathom what had happened. Moving up to Tom's driveway, dismounted her bicycle and knocked on the door, turning to Jack and Tooth who landed beside her.

"Well, this is his place." She grinned. "Try not to get mad at him; he's a little … difficult."

"Doesn't believe in the Guardians?" Jack pocketed his hands.

"Well, yeah, but –,"

Tom opened the door and raised his brow. "Who're you talking to?"

"Oh, Tom, look who I found." She gestured behind her.

He looked behind her then frowned. "Don't start that crap again."

"No, just look –,"

"Yeah, whatever; just come in." He pulled her into the hallway and slammed the door behind him.

* * *

LOOKING AROUND his room apprehensively, Tom pulled Mary in and slammed the door shut, quickly searching under the bed, desk and inside the wardrobe. Raising her brow, Mary watched him move up to the window and stick his head out, scoping the neighbourhood.

"Does he do this a lot?" Tooth turned to Mary who shook her head.

Closing the blinds, Tom moved up to Mary and whispered: "Don't tell anybody but … I was nearly abducted by aliens."

"Huh?"

"So, he's a conspiracy nut?" Jack raised his brow.

"Yeah." Mary sighed.

"Who're you talking to?" Tom's brows stitched.

"Jack Frost and Tooth Fairy are right behind me! Mary gestured to them.

He looked behind her and frowned, only seeing the door. "Mary, this is serious. What I'm talking about is serious!" He pulled her to his desk. "I'll show you the video.''

"Well, somebody's touchy today." Mary smirked. "Finally giving in, huh?"

"No, I just wanna show you the video." He sat at the table.

"Mmkay, if you say so." Her eyes lowered smugly.

"I." He glanced around and blushed. "Look, there's the alien." He pulled up the video at the point where the creature phased through the wall.

"Wait; is this what you got on your camera yesterday?"

"That's the creature?" Tooth leaned to Jack.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Yeah, it's real; I swear." Tom played the video. "Look at this."

Mary leaned in and watched the video, brushing up against Tom who jerked and moved aside. Her eyes dilated as the wave hit the creature and stepped back. "Whoa, what was that?"

"I dunno; I think it put a probe in me." He paused the video.

"How? It didn't even touch you."

"Well, I don't know what aliens do with their claws or tech."

"Yeah, I don't think that's an alien." She looked at the screen.

"Really? Okay, what do you think it is?" He folded his arms.

"I think it's a spirit, like Pitch Black."

"Mary, c'mon; are you still talking about that? The Guardians aren't real!" He frowned.

"Then what'd you call that stuff coming from that thing's hand? That looked like magic if you ask me." She pointed at the screen.

"It's an alien." He stood up. "Just gotta find out if it put a probe in me." He walked through Tooth.

The Fairy shuddered and turned to Jack. "Whoa, that felt weird."

"Had to go through that for three centuries." He shrugged.

"Tom, that's not an alien and it didn't probe you." Mary followed him.

"Oh, then what was that wave?" Tom turned to her.

"You did that."

"What?" He raised his brow.

"Just look at the video." She sat at the table and rewound it. "Look at it closely." She played it in slow-mo. "That wave came out of your head then went back after the creature fell out of the room."  
He watched the video then shook his head. "No, no, that's impossible."

"How is it? We've got Avengers, the Big Hero 6, th-these people who get powers after eating fish oil – anything's possible."

"No, it can't be; I can't have powers."

"Why not?" Mary raised her brow.

"How can I? I'm not a scientist, I haven't been abducted by aliens, haven't been bitten by radioactive spiders, haven't transformed after saying 'Shazam' – I can't have powers." He shrugged. "I'm just a kid; it's impossible."

"Tom, you've always been talking about aliens, superheroes – the other day, you told me about the world transforming; what _can_ be impossible if all that's happened? You've got video proof of a spirit trying to trap you in your dreams and a sudden wave saves you. You have powers, Tom."

"No, I don't." He stepped back. "The alien put a device in me – probably some kinda beacon – and it's sending out waves. Probably gonna happen any time so some mother ship can come and invade." He pocketed his hands then his eyes dilated. "I've gotta warn everyone!" He headed for the door.

"Tom, stop." She held his shoulder. "That thing is not an alien and Jack and Tooth are here to find out how you stopped it from attacking."

"Oh, for crying out loud, Mary." He groaned. "They're not real!"

"Tom, just look, they're right here." She gestured to them. "I can prove it." She turned to Jack.

"Oh, I've got an idea." Jack held his hand out.

Creating a snowball in his hands, Jack let go of it, letting it slowly ascend to the ceiling, drawing Tom's attention. The boy's eyes dilated in shock as the sphere burst into snowflakes that sprinkled down, twinkling in their descent. Mary grinned and turned to Tom, seeing his amazement as a flake hit his nose.

"Do you see them now?"

"How's this happening." He looked at his hand as snow hell on it.

"It's Jack; he did it." She walked up to him. "He's real, just like the other Guardians."

"The aliens are coming." He frowned.

"What?"

"They're changing our atmosphere, messing with the weather." He looked around in a panic. "It's the end of the world."

"Tom, it's not an alien; it's Jack."

"No, it is." He moved up0 to his wardrobe. "I need to barricade myself." He opened it.

"With what, superhero costumes?" She frowned. "Why don't you believe me?"

"Because I believe in what is real and what I can see, not stupid stories from a kid's book." He turned to her. "Grow up, you idiot, we're not in a fairy tale."

Tears welled up in her eyes. "Tom …"

Jack glanced between the children then looked at the window which sparked an idea in him. Moving up to it, he touched the glass, spreading frost on it and began drawing on it. Seeing the image form on its own, Tom jerked back in shock and a wave exploded out of him, knocking Mary, Tooth and Jack off their feet.

Looking around the dishevelled room, Tom breathed heavily and looked at his hands. "Oh, my, God, it is a probe!" Mary started to cry and ran out of the room.

Tom frowned as he looked at his hands, clenching them tightly as he looked around the room in shock. Sharing looks with Tooth, Jack slid the window open and flew out, followed by the fairy who phased through the wall. Turning to the house, Jack huffed as he saw Tom hastily close the windows and curtains.

"Well, that was heavy." Tooth flew up to him.

"Yeah."

"So, what do we do?" She watched Mary ride off on her bike.

"Guess we'll have to try tomorrow." He shrugged. "This kid won't believe us if we try to interact with him."

"Well, why do we need him anyway? He could just be someone with powers." She turned to him. "How'd he help us with this?"

* * *

RINGING THE doorbell, Tom huffed as he pocketed his arms and waited – glancing around so nobody would see. The door swung open and a redheaded girl walked up to him, her eyes set low and condescending as she typed on her phone and leaned against the doorframe uninterestedly.

"McCarthy."

"Top heavy." He gained a frown from her. "Word spreads." He grinned sarcastically.

"Really?" She popped her gum.

"Yeah." He shrugged.

"So it was your camera I heard yesterday." She sighed. "Ah, it's always the nerds."

"You're looking for Nick; lives across the street." He pointed at the house behind him. "I'm not an idiot like he is and if I was, you wouldn't hear the camera."

"Thanks for the tip, I owe ya a favour."

He raised his brow. "Not in this life."

She gasped angrily and smacked his head. "In your dreams!"

"Yeah, you're right." He dusted his hair. "You're beneath me."

"Yeah, right." She scoffed.

"Is Mary here? I need to talk to her about something."

"No, she's in the hospital." She turned back to her phone.

"What happened?"

"Dunno." She shrugged. "A cold or something."

He sifted his mind and frowned. "Which hospital?"

"Saint Mark."

"Crap, that's a long way off." He frowned.

"Could give ya a ride? Got nothing to do here."

"Yeah, sure; so long as I don't find anything that'd scar me for life in there." He moved down the driveway.

"What kinda girl do you think I am anyway?" She shut the door behind her and tailed him.

"Mable, I think highly of you." He teased.

"It's Jewel!"

"Hey, save the stage name for later; you're still practicing." He chuckled.

She scoffed and got in her car. "I hate you."

"I know." He grinned.

* * *

TOM GROWLED as Jewel shrugged and tailed him down the hospital hall – manoeuvring through medical staff. Opening a door to his right, Tom entered a small ward where Mary lay in a bed, connected to IVs and wearing a breathing mask. Moving quickly to her side, he looked at the heart rate monitor and sighed as he saw it was stable.

"How do you mix a coma with a cold?" He frowned.

"I dunno, I wasn't listening." Jewel shrugged.

"Unbelievable." He shook his head and turned to Mary. "At least she's still alive. How'd this happen?"

"I dunno." She sifted her mind. "I woke up this morning and I didn't hear what they said. It just didn't click cuz she was fine yesterday and she's suddenly in a coma? Aren't they caused by like drugs or something?"

He frowned and stepped back, watching Mary's face twitch in discomfort and her mask fog up erratically. "Look at that."

"At what?" Jewel walked up to him.

"She's moving."

"… So?"

"She's not supposed to be moving if she's in a coma; she's just sleeping!" His face lit up.

She squinted then raised her brow. "You know the doctors are smarter than that, right?"

"Mary." He shook her. "Mary!" She didn't respond and he huffed. "Well, we know she's not sleeping."

"You only tried twice."

"Seen her in math class; she's a light sleeper."

"So, what's going on then?"

"Why're you asking me? I'm a kid."

"A kid smart enough to mess up the brakes of my car." She frowned.

"Yeah, that was awesome." He chuckled.

"You know, I should kill you for that." She folded her arms.

"But, you haven't; proves you're lost without me." He grinned.

She scoffed and headed out the door. "I'll be waiting at the car or whatever. She's alive so she doesn't need me here."

Waving dismissively, Tom turned to Mary and frowned as he watched her twitch in discomfort. Holding her hand, he sifted his mind to figure out how she could've ended up in such a state. Having been dragged to her room many times, he deduced that there weren't any objects blunt or sharp enough to cause sufficient head trauma. Maybe a fall down the stairs or a slip on the floor, but none seemed likely.

On the off chance she ended up that way at home or fell off her bike, her symptoms were that of sleep, not comatose. Looking at her face closely, he could see her eyes move, meaning that she was in her REM sleep. If she was asleep, why was she unresponsive? She has never been a heavy sleeper and someone other than him must've tried to rouse her.

His mind hit the answer and he frowned, realizing that aliens had to be behind it. Thinking more, he wondered the purpose of such an attack. Why be so particular to have children and have such technology to create a different type of coma? Shouldn't it have been more widespread? If it was specific, why target children? They'd be of no use as slaves and if it was meant to kill, why the waiting period? It wasn't aliens; it had to be something else.

* * *

"WHAT'S TAKING her so long?" Tooth looked around.

"Dunno, she usually comes around here every day." Jack shrugged.

Looking at the children who played around, she raised her brow. "Wait, how're these kids just running past us?"

"Not many people believe in the Guardians – the movie's hype ran out."

"You know, I have no idea how I know that." She shivered. "It's creepy, like I was drawn and … animated. Aren't I real?"

"I don't like thinking about that." He frowned.

"Still weird that a movie came out about me and I wasn't there! Wasn't I –,"

"What's he doing here?" He raised his brow.

Tom moved down a pathway, manoeuvring through children that ran around and headed straight for the two. Clenching a baseball bat at his side, he closed his eyes and muttered to himself, making Tooth jerk back in confusion. With a slow sigh, Tom raised his head and looked at the two, growling.

"So she was right."

"Wait, you can see us?" Jack stood up.

"Yeah, I can, no need to get excited." Tom brandished the baseball bat.

"This is great!" Tooth grinned. "Wait, what changed your mind all of a sudden?"

"You don't know?" Tom frowned. "Mary's in a coma!"

"What? When'd that happen?" Jack raised his brow.

"Last night – just went to the hospital. I thought the Guardians are supposed to _guard_ kids; what were you doing?"

"Dammit." Jack sighed. "We were trying to catch that thing that was attacking you, but it got away."

"The alien?"

"Wait a minute; I thought you believed in us." Tooth landed.

"Yeah and I believe you're aliens." He nodded.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Jack groaned.

"Hey, this is a giant leap for me, okay!? You've gotta do a lot more to prove the existence of spirits, because none of that makes sense."

"Ah, well, it's close enough." Jack shrugged. "Listen, Tom, we need your help." "Yeah, to catch the guy that put Mary in a coma – I know; that's why I brought this." He tapped the bat against his palm.

"Uh, I don't think that'll work." Jack chuckled.

"Hey, it's the only thing I could think of. Could find a gun, but I'm not interested in jail time." Tom leaned on the bat.

"Huh, you know; you're a little mature for your age." Tooth smiled slightly.

"I'm different." He smirked.

"Okay, now jump into this bag." Jack pulled out a sack.

"Wait, what?" Tom jerked back.

"What're you doing?" Tooth turned to her.

"I thought that's what the Guardians always do." Jack mumbled.

"Where'd you get that idea?" Tooth whispered.

"That's how North got me when I became a Guardian."

"Super-powered molesters." Tom raised his brow. "Huh, Mary was right; anything's possible."

"No, it's not like that." Tooth turned to him.

"Ah, whatever; we'll explain it when we get there." Jack wrapped Tom in the sack.

"Hey, lemme go!" Tom's voice muffled as Jack lifted him.

"And here we go." Jack tossed a snow globe on the ground, opening a portal before him.

"Jack!" Tooth frowned.

"Hey, it's fast; isn't it?" He walked toward the portal. "Hey, I wonder if people who don't believe in us can see stuff we're holding or the portal – bet it's weird as hell." People watched with mouths agape as the sack floated toward the gateway. A panic started and they ran off. "Yeah, guess I was right."

* * *

MOVING DOWN the toy factory of the Workshop, Tom looked around in awe of the building, seeing toys soar through the air and roll on the floor. Reaching out to a robot on a table, he jerked back as a yeti frowned it him, stepping away from the creature as he followed Jack and Tooth toward an elevator. Entering it, they went up to the next floor, entering the grand hall of the globe, seeing Bunny and Sandman moving around anxiously.

"Finally, we've been lookin' all over for ya." Bunny walked up to them. "Hold up, who's this kid?"

"A giant talking rabbit and a little Sandman. Sure, why not?" Tom scoffed.

"Tom McCarthy, he's the kid that's gonna help us enter the Dream Realm." Jack walked past him.

"Yeah, could you ask next time instead of tossing me in a burlap sack? If I didn't lose all my bars." Tom frowned.

"How? Don't tell me the Man in the Moon's now making kids Guardians." Bunny turned to him.

"No, but this kid's special. He managed to repel the creature that's putting kids into comas, so he should be able to break the barrier blocking Sandman from opening a portal." Tooth flew toward Bunny.

"Well, that's a new one; never heard of any children with powers."

"It's not that surprising." Jack leaned on his cane. "Saw this kid in Bellwood that could turn into weird creatures using a watch."

"If I do have powers, it'd better not be that." Tom shuddered. "Don't wanna grow extra arms."

"Whatta ya think, Sandy? Can this kid do it?" Bunny turned to Sandman who squinted at Tom. He shrugged.

"I think it's worth a shot anyway. Open the portal and see if he can do it." Jack moved up to Sandy.

With a nod, Sandman walked up to the centre of the room and stood in front of the globe, pressing his hands together. Thrusting his palms forward, he weaved a portal before him and stepped back. Purple energy exploded out of the gateway and a blue wave shot out of Tom, deflecting it. Shielding his face from the resultant vibration, Sandy looked at the portal and grinned in astonishment, seeing it stabilize.

"Whoa." Tom looked at his hands.

"Well, I'll be; this kid's remarkable." Bunny's brows stitched.

"You know, I kinda didn't think that'd work anyway." Tooth shrugged. "Impressive."

"What'd you expect?" Tom smirked. "So, let's get going."

"Lead the way, Sandy." Jack gestured to the portal.

* * *

BRIGHT LIGHT gave way for green and purple as Sandy, Jack, Tom, Tooth and Bunny walked through the portal. Looking around, they stood in awe as they were atop a massive puzzle piece of a landscape and under a deep purple sky with small particles shimmering in grey clouds. Roaming the area, they saw giant golden sand creatures soaring around them. A large rainbow shot towards them and bounced off the ground, curving above them with a unicorn galloping on it.

"Trippy." Tom looked around. "You live here?" He turned to Sandy who nodded.

"Kinda makes me wonder why they're laws against drugs when people go through this every night." Bunny drew his boomerangs.

"Wonder why my dreams aren't this crazy." Tom walked onward.

"These are dreams of different people all over the world." Jack looked around. "What do I –,"

A lour rumbling came as the realm shook – the sand creatures disappearing as the ground cracked in half. A tidal wave of sand washed over, flooding the area and burying the five as it filled the expanse. Clawing out quickly, Tom coughed as he stood up, spitting and dusting his clothes.

"What the hell?" He shook his leg.

"Wasn't it a …" Tooth flew out of the sand. "What was the previous area again?"

"Beats me." Bunny drilled out of the sand. "If this realm is this erratic, we need to get outta here."

"You said it." Jack shot out of the ground and Sandy wove sand around him into a cloud as he dove toward Tom and grabbed his arm.

"Hey, what're you doing?" He raised is brow as Sandman set him on the ground. "Oh, thanks."

"So, where are going?" Tooth flew up to Sandy. Sand rose out of his head and formed into a compass, pointing east.

"Okay, let's just –," Jack's eyes dilated as he looked forward. "Oh, no."

"What?" Tom turned where he was looking. "You've gotta be kidding me!"  
A large colourful cloud shot towards them, shadowing over the landscape and pouring bunnies on the ground as it moved towards them. Lightning shot from a glass ceiling above them and struck them down into the nimbus that shattered like glass as they fell through into a sea of red liquid.

"What the hell is this?" Tom spiralled in the liquid.

"How're we breathing?" Tooth suffocated.

A large crocodile swam toward them and swallowed them, moving them into its gullet that tapered out into an elevator that shut as they went in. The doors opened and they struggled to their feet, slowly stepping out into a clear blue sky that swept around them. Shielding his face, Tom squinted as he saw the sun shining nearby, floating at the centre of the realm as a giant mass tied to a string made of cauliflower that went up into a large hole.

"What the hell is this?" He frowned.

"How're we supposed to find this place?" Bunny turned to Sandman. The campus's arrow spun uncontrollably.

The sun turned to them slowly, spikes protruding out of its sides as a face slowly formed with a wide grin and a long, pointed nose. A bright light shone out of it, blinding the five and giving way for a lush grassland. Turning to his left, Tom raised his brow as small orbs of light flew around him and a band of teddy bears walked around a massive cherry blossom tree. Shaking his head, he looked up and saw a large cocoon where Freiza lay trapped.

"Okay, I can't take this crap anymore." Tom frowned.

Thunder echoed as a bright light shot out of the sky and a gigantic Micky Mouse hand descended and reached to grab them. Sand stamped his foot on the ground and thrust his hands forward, sending a wave of sand that covered the whole area, making everything disappear and transform into a land made of candy. Stepping onto a cliff, Jack looked down and saw the word 'Sugar Rush' written in green in the middle of a chocolate pond with cotton candy covering the area.

"The area's stable now?" Jack turned to Sandy who nodded.

"Phew, I couldn't take any more of that." Bunny sheathed his boomerangs.

An arrow formed over Sandy's head and they trod down the cliff, moving past dwarfs clad in candy clothing. Turning to his left, Tom spotted a raven-haired girl clad in a green hoody and skirt, waving at her with a welcoming grin as he and the Guardians moved toward a portal that opened nearby. Looking at the gateway itself, he jerked back and raised his brow, seeing a large black and red Rubik's cube floating in the air.

Sandy shot sand at the cube and it split in half, releasing a staircase made of cashew nuts. Shaking his head, Tom and the Guardians walked up the steps and into the cube, entering a bright light that turned transported them into a forest. The five floated down a stream, seeing a young Korra crying near a tree. The water swallowed them in slowly in a spiral seeing a shark, dog hybrid made of coffee barking and coughing while dissolving away.

Tom's eyes drooped. "The hell is this crap?"

The waterbed broke through and the five fell into a massive ditch with bowling balls covering its floor. Landing on the spheres, they rolled to its centre and struggled to their feet, looking around to see another Rubik's cube floating nearby, it's edges slowly fading out. Turning to his right, Tom saw a purple cotton candy elephant shouldering a satchel roam about, collecting the balls.

"Is that Bing Bong?" Tom squinted.

"C'mon, Tom, no time for sightseeing; the portal's closing." Jack flew past him.

"Right." Tom nodded.

Sandy lifted Tom onto the sand cloud and flew toward the cube, shooting a sand-ball into it, releasing a scooter attached to a chain comprised of cards. Grabbing the end of the vehicle, they got pulled into portal, being transported into a massive fish bowl filled with calculators, teddy bears and seesaws. Scrambling to his feet, Jack climbed toward the glass, balancing against it as he looked outside, seeing a black void with swords floating about.

Constantine and Zatanna ran through the expanse, past the fish bowl as they chased after a green humanoid being shouldering a satchel. The being drew a key from the bag and held it out, creating an energy door and opened it, seeing a city at night on the other end. The monster dove into it and the two jumped after, leaving it to disappear soon after.

"Okay, that's it!" Bunny tossed a boomerang at the glass, shattering the bowl and spilling them and its contents into the void, letting them float. "Sandy, take us to our friggin' destination or I'm gonna lose it."

Sandy nodded and pointed at a drainage pipe to his left, flying toward it as the others tailed him, including Tom, who floated in the realm. Water burst out of the pipe and a starfish, sponge, squirrel, crab and Toyota Corolla with light sabres for headlights shot out of it, nearly hitting them as they spread out. Sandy dove in and the others after, entering a bright light that shone from its end.

* * *

TOM SCREAMED as he flung through the air and smashed against onto a pillow. Struggling to his feet, his eyes dilated as he took in his surroundings, moving up to the Guardians who get their bearings. The five stood on an expansive wooden bedframe that stretched as far as they could see with a mattress, bedspreads and sheets floating in a cascading sequence of the same size that moved up to the sky. Pillows flew all around them, each varying in size and colour, each moving in between the parts of the bedroom realm.

"Is this the place?" Bunny turned to Sandy. He nodded.

"Awesome, now let's find the freak that's behind this." Tom brandished his baseball bat."

"Where should we be headed?" Jack turned to Sandy who pointed upward, sand forming into a duvet above his head. "Alright, we'll need to be careful and stick together; we don't wanna draw any attention to our –," Tom looked around and frowned, red energy exploding out of him as he shot into the air, flying through the mattress. "Tom, where're you going?" Jack chased him.

"Tom!" Tooth flew after him.

Sandy wove sand underneath him, creating a cloud and held his hand out to Bunny who took it reluctantly. "This's just embarrassing." He groaned as he got on board and they flew after them.

* * *

SHOOTING OUT of the ground, Tom hovered in the air and looked around, breathing heavily as a loud ringing flooded his ears. A massive city spread out around him, reaching the horizon and spreading up to the sky – covering both the ground and sky. The architecture varied massively, ranging from Japanese, Roman and several others with vehicles and transport animals roaming around him.

"Tom!" Jack's voice echoed.

"Kid, what're you doing?" Bunny yelled.

"I heard Mary screaming." Tom turned to them.

"Where? I didn't hear anything." Tooth flew up to him.

"I dunno, I just heard it, but it's gone now." Tom frowned.

"Whoa, Tom; when'd you learn to fly?" Jack raised his brow.

"I am?" Tom looked at his body, seeing the energy exuding out. "I didn't notice. Must be the Dream Realm."

"There's gravity in this area; it's all you." Jack smirked. "Guess you do have powers."

"But how?"

Sandy swiped his hand, creating a sand shield before them as an energy ball shot toward them. Deflecting the attack, he and the others braced themselves as they looked around, seeing several black, six-foot-tall, humanoid creatures fly up to them and surround them.

"Look alive." Jack twirled his staff.

"Oh, no, this's bad." Tooth backed up.

* * *

 **As always, Follow, Favourite and Review and Await the Awesomeness as we dive deeper into the universe. Thanks for reading.**


	4. The Inevitable

**Welcome to the Universe! Sorry for the lack of updates – it's been kinda rough the past couple weeks. Hopefully you haven't giving up on this story because we haven't. Hope you enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

 **THE INEVITABLE**

SHARP RINGING flooded Tom's ears as he came to – his body numbed in the cacophony as he struggled to his feet and took in his psychedelic surroundings. A pang hit his arm and he held it quickly, feeling something cover his hand. He looked at it and frowned. Blood.

"Tom! Tom!" Tooth's voice muffled in the distance.

He turned and saw that he was in a building – the fairy's figure coming to him as a silhouette through the hole in the wall. The black feathered creatures turned to him, all eyeing him in predatory synchrony as he slowly rose to his feet. They screeched and flew toward him, ignoring the Guardians and descending upon the building. The beasts surrounded the edifice, blackening the skies as they sped toward him.

"We need to get to that kid quickly!" Bunny turned to Sandy who nodded and sent the cloud he was on forward, flying after him.

"What do they want from him?" Jack shot toward the horde.

The four attacked the beasts that formed a massive cloud over the building, each of them striking with their signature weapons. Jack flew over several of the beasts, brushing his staff against them and freezing them in a line as he moved toward the building. With a large part of the horde frozen, he flew up and crashed down with an earth-shaking blow, sending many of the creatures flying about in a spherical explosion.

"This stuff's just slowin' me down." Bunny sheathed his boomerangs.

He leapt off the sand cloud, running on the beasts that were flung by Jack's attack as he made it to the rest of the horde. He hopped off each of the creatures as they fell, defying gravity as he flipped over large open distances and shot over the dark cloud. He fished out several eggs and threw them on the mass, creating several vortexes in mid-air that sucked the beasts in upon contact.

"Have a taste a' this, you wankers!" He tossed a volley of black eggs into the vortexes and they shut, taking several beasts along with them.

Tooth flew up to him, awestruck by what she saw. "Whoa, how did you –,"

"Wait for it." He smirked as he landed on Sandy's cloud. A blinding explosion appeared in the skies behind him. "That's what I'm talking 'bout."

"Cool." She grinned excitedly. "Lemme have a go!"

Tooth swooped down into the mass of creatures, smacking them with her bladed wings as she wove in between them. She dove in and out of the cloud, cutting the beasts to pieces as she skewered through them and flew out. Looking down at them, she saw several of their mutilated bodies, sighing in relief as they had no blood and pelted the ground below.

Sandy zoomed past the fallen creatures, summoning whips of sand as he made it to the rest of the horde. He twirled around, smacking the creatures and sending them flying – dispersing the cloud as he barrelled through them. He flew around the creatures, shooting strips of sand that strung around each of them as he swerved around them. Collecting the beasts into a large ball, he connected the sand into a large whip, swinging them down and smashing them against a building.

"Alright!" Jack laughed. "We got 'em all!"

"Not yet, mate." Bunny pointed behind him.

Another horde of creatures descended upon the building Tom was in. "C'mon, we have to stop them!" Jack shot toward it.

Tooth flew after the others then stopped in her tracks, fear showing on her face. "We're not gonna make it."

Jack turned to her then the building, realizing that she was right as there was a large distance between them. "Tom, get outta there!"

Tom paced around near the broken wall, muttering in a panic. "Don't worry, Mary, I'll be there." He paused, a frown crossing his face. "No, no, you'll be fine." His eyes dilated. "Mary!"

He stopped in place ad looked at the hole – the mass of beasts descending from the sky casting a shadow over the building as they drew closer and blocked the sun. He frowned and his eyes glowed white – red energy bursting out of him and enveloping the room around him. The building exploded, a blinding surge of red energy spreading over the city in a dome.

"What the …" Jack flew back.

The energy dome spread out, covering the block and engulfing the creatures as the explosion intensified. It disappeared suddenly, leaving debris floating in the air along with people that floated helplessly amid sleep. Tooth moved her hand from her face, looking down at where the building used to be, seeing a massive crater instead.

"Oh my God." Her breath quickened. "Where's Tom?"

She swooped down and gasped, holding her hands to her chest as she backtracked in fear. Tom hovered over the crater, his body standing as a black silhouette amidst deep crimson energy that enveloped him. The Guardians watched in shock, Jack descending closer in curiosity as the boy turned to them, nearly unrecognizable as his eyes glowed in bright white.

"Who is that kid?" Bunny's mouth fell agape.

"What _is_ he?" Jack frowned.

The energy disappeared and Tom fainted, his body plummeting quickly to the ground below. Tooth hastily swooped down and caught him, looking at him in worry as she felt his body grow deathly cold. The others flew down toward her and Bunny looked up at the sky, seeing more creatures flying toward them.

"We'd better get a move on, guys!"

"Where do they keep coming from?" Tooth handed Tom over to Jack as they flew up to the others.

"Where do we go?"

Sandy looked around and pointed at a building behind them. Bunny turned to him and nodded. "Let's follow Sandy."

The others nodded and followed the Sandman, Jack being farthest as he looked at Tom in confusion. They entered the building and Sandy summoned a ball of sand, shooting it at the ceiling of the room they were in, enveloping it and creating a sparkle on the surfaces it touched. The creatures flew up to the window of the room, failing to see them as their eyes roamed. Sandy gestured for the others to keep quiet, waiting for the beasts to leave.

"Phew, good thinking." Bunny drew a smile from Sandy and took a seat on a couch.

"So, where's the centre of the Dream Realm?" Tooth sat across from Sandy. He summoned a sand arrow above his head pointing downward.

"We're already here? Then what're we supposed to do then?" Jack placed Tom on a chair. Sandy's arrow pointed up. "Go up? But I thought you said we were already here?" Several items appeared above Sandy's head, the last being the manga symbol for anger.

"You wanted to be specific?" Tooth raised her brow. Sandy smiled and nodded.

"Okay, we should get going." Bunny stood up. "We dunno how long the spell Sandy cast will last and we don't want more of those creatures attackin' us."

"But, we need Tom to come to." Tooth turned to him. "He might be hurt."

"He doesn't seem to be." Jack studied the boy, seeing that his body was unscathed.

"I say we start interrogating him." Bunny twirled his boomerang. "With that kinda power, he may've been behind this whole deal from the beginning."

"No, he wouldn't." Tooth frowned.

"Well, what other explanation do ya got, huh? Kid survived being smacked through a wall then blew up a city block for cryin' out loud! Doubt he's even human." Bunny folded his arms.

A sand moon formed above Sandy's head. "You think he might be a Guardian?" Tooth turned to him and he nodded.

"Oh, hell no! No, no, no, no – no! This isn't a playground from every Jim and Jack to jus' wander into, a'ight?" Bunny frowned. "We already let Jack in, we can't have more reckless children around."

"Hey!"

"You might be powerful, but that doesn't change anything, mate." Bunny pointed at him. "This kid can't be a Guardian."

"With what he did, he could be more powerful than any of us. What'd stop him from being one?" Tooth shrugged.

"He doesn't even believe in us!" Bunny turned to her. "He thinks we're some kinda aliens like the Krang or somethin'."

"That'd be hilarious." Jack chuckled.

"Well, Nick's been gone for a while, so it could have something to do with him." Tooth gestured to Tom.

"I doubt it – it's got something to with the guy who's behind all a' this." Bunny paced around.

"If he's not a Guardian, could the next one be a woman? Would be nice to have more people to talk to." Tooth's eyes dilated as it hit her. "Wait, if there was, then she'd be competing against me for Jack." She muttered.

"What?" Jack turned to her.

"Nothing, nothing!" She chuckled uneasily.

"So, Sandy, you're in charge – what do we do next?" Bunny watched him move up to the window and look outside. He pointed upward, summoning sand blankets above him that floated in a cascading pattern up to a thick duvet. "Well that's gonna be a trip."

"Then we better get movi –," Jack tried to stand when Tom stirred, drawing his attention. "Tom?"

"You okay?" Tooth moved up to him.

"… Yeah." He struggled and blinked repeatedly as he looked around. "Mary? … Mary?"

"Who's Mary?" Bunny raised his brow.

"His little girlfriend." Tooth giggled.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Tom frowned, his face flush with embarrassment.

"What're you calling her for? She's not here." Jack leaned against his staff.

"I … I dunno … I can just … talk to her somehow." Tom's brows stitched.

"You must really love her if you have such a bond." Tooth cooed.

"I'm not in love! I'm only eleven!" Tom frowned.

"How're you able to talk to her?" Jack walked up to him.

"I dunno." He shrugged. "I can hear her … she seems to be in trouble."

"Okay, hold up, how're you doin' any of this and how did you pull off what ya did without a bomb on ya?" Bunny pointed outside.

"What do you mean?"

"You blew up an entire block!"

"What?" Tom stood up.

"Look out the window." Bunny moved up to it, gesturing for him to look outside.

Tom looked out the window, shock evident on his face as he saw the massive crater nearby. "Whoa." He stepped back. "Who did that?"

"You did!"

"I can't do that!" Tom frowned.

"Kid, I saw it with my own two eyes."

"No, you're joking." Tom scoffed.

"Actually, we all saw it – you did it." Concern etched on Tooth's face.

"Tom, you're gifted." Jack moved up to him and Sandy nodded repeatedly.

"But … how?" Tom's eyes darted around in confusion.

"We don't know." Tooth knelt before him. "But being a Guardian is a very important responsibility that you –,"

"He's not a Guardian!" Bunny growled.

"Exactly – I don't want you guys to turn me into an alien!" Tom crossed his arms.

"We're not aliens, dude." Jack chuckled.

"Tom." Tooth held his shoulders and looked him in the eye, her voice softening though there was weight underneath. "Did you know that you have powers?"

"No." Tom shook his head.

"Well, try to control it then." She stood up. "We don't want you to blow us up."

"Yeah, sorry about that." He rubbed his nape.

"Don't worry, we'll find your friend." She patted his shoulder.

Sandy created figurines of each of them above his head, splitting them up then created the blankets above them. "We should split up? We'll end up being slaughtered out there!" Bunny frowned.

Sandy created a sand versions of them fighting the black beasts, summoning the caution symbol in front of them. He created another image of them hiding behind a wall then changed it into a thumbs up. "But we'll be okay if we avoid fighting?" Jack raised his brow. Sandy nodded. "Okay, awesome."

Sandy created a sand version of a child floating in front of him, forged a sand ball and tossed it at. The sand figure awoke upon being hit, smiling as it disappeared. He summoned several sand balls, fitting them in different satchels that he draped over each of them.

"You're sure this is gonna work?" Jack adjusted his bag. Sandy nodded and summoned three maps, hovering them over to Jack, Tooth and Bunny, patting his own head.

"Wait, what if the world starts wiggin' out like last time?" Bunny turned to him. "I don't wanna end up in Missouri while looking at a croc making out with an ice cream cone or somethin'."

Sandy forged a sand ball and pointed at it. "We just toss a sand ball at 'em?" Jack raised his brow and he nodded.

"Well, in that case, I'm headin' out on my own." Bunny tapped his foot on the ground, summoning a tunnel. "Let's see if you guys can catch up with me." He smirked then hopped in, closing it after him.

"Okay, so Sandy, you go with Tooth and I'll go with Tom, sound like a good idea?" Jack headed for the window.

"Whoa, whoa, why can't I pick who I wanna go with?" Tom frowned.

"Fine, who do you wanna go with?" Jack folded his arms.

Tom glanced at Tooth then shook his head, heading for the exit as his face flushed. "Never mind, let's get outta here."

"Aw, you're so cute." Tooth giggled.

"Let's get a move on!"

Jack chuckled and walked up to him. "You guys stick to the map and we should rendezvous on the point Sandy put."

"Stay safe." Tooth waved at him then flew through the wall to her right, followed by Sandy who phased through it as well.

* * *

COWS, FISH and gorillas roamed the skies above a street, moving over the roads in congruent fashion albeit the lack of traffic lights. A tunnel opened on a sidewalk and Bunny hopped out of it, pulling out his boomerangs as he scanned the area. Moving around apprehensively, he frowned as he looked upward, groaning in frustration.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud – how am I supposed to get up there without my tunnels!" He pulled out the map. "This map must be bodgy." He squinted at it then rolled it up. "Well, fourth time's the charm." He tapped his foot on the ground.

A tunnel opened beside him and he hopped into it, closing it after him as he burrowed through the earth. He moved toward the light and jumped out, finding himself on another street in the city. Looking up at the livestock traffic, he kicked a can and muttered to himself.

"Come on!"

He huffed and folded his arms, sulking when he suddenly felt himself rise – legs first – into the air. He panicked, trying to reach for something to grab as he shot towards the sky. He gasped as he realized that he was falling upward – quickly searching his satchel for a sand ball. He grabbed some sand and then looked around, wondering what to throw it at. He smacked against the air, groaning as he struggled to his feet, hearing the creaking sound of glass underneath his feet.

"Damn, this place is a headache." He looked around, seeing as he was standing upside down in thin air.

"You can say that again." A feminine voice came.

He turned to his left and saw Raven clad in a pink cloak, red pants, a white shirt with a flower and a clown nose. "You're having a nightmare?" He chuckled.

"Oh, yeah." She frowned then turned to her left. "Oh no, not this part again!" She groaned.

Bunny heard cackling coming from his left and he turned, seeing GoGo Tomago frolicking in a field of flowers that spread with her as she danced with Edward Cullen. She turned to him and mouthed out the words 'help me' in between laughs as she was twirled by the vampire and sent spinning toward Raven. Stopping before the woman, the shorter girl shook her head and looked up at her, smiling against her will as the two shook hands. Bunny chuckled as he watched them shake hands repeatedly, frowning slightly as they did it for nearly a minute without slowing.

"If I meet you in real life, I'll kill you." GoGo deadpanned.

"Just do it now." Raven's eyes drooped.

"Dead man walking." Edward hopped around in the grass. "Lucy, I'm home!"

"Okay, this ends now." Bunny fished out sand balls, throwing them at Edward and the two women.

* * *

"COME ON, Baymax, try again!" Hiro's eyes dilated in fear.

"I am sorry, but she is in a coma." The robot turned to her. "I am afraid there is nothing I can do."

Hiro turned to GoGo, seeing her lie motionlessly in her hospital bed as he, Honey Lemon, Fred, Wasabi, Baymax and her father Kaien stood around. He touched her forehead, wondering what would happen to her as she'd been out for nearly a day. The girl gasped and shot up, looking around in surprise.

"Wha … what happened?" She breathed heavily.

* * *

WALLY WEST and Artemis Crock walked around Raven in her bedroom, each sharing confused looks as they studied her. The girl hovered over her bed, vertical and upside down with drool slathering over her face. She muttered to herself, giggling and pointing before her lazily.

"Um, does she usually sleep like this?" Artemis turned to Wally who shrugged.

* * *

EDWARD SHOT up from his bed, looking around as he tried to get his bearings, sighing as he felt the cold rush of air. He touched around the sheets, feeling a person beside him. He turned and groaned, seeing Anastasia Steele asleep beside him.

"Ugh, I'm still in a nightmare." He wiped his face.

"Look who's talking." She snored.

* * *

"WELL, THAT takes care of that." Bunny dusted his hands. "Three people recovered in under an hour." He looked around. "Though in this place, I dunno how much time has passed." He walked over the space, feeling the invisible glass beneath. "Well, what do I do now?" He heard a crack. "Crikey."

Bunny fell further upward, hurling helplessly toward the ground above as he drew closer to the cattle traffic. He swerved around a cow and fished out an egg, throwing it in front of him and opening a vortex that sucked him in before he hit the pavement.

* * *

WHISPERS AND sounds of trickling water filled Bunny's ears as he rose to his feet – his head stinging with pain as he grabbed a sand ball. A cat-sized elephant with giant teeth for ears and a carrot for a nose rolled around him, chirping like a cricket while throwing fireworks around that exploded into colourful bubbles. He tossed the sand ball on the ground and the once pitch black void came alight.

He stood in a large, sandy wasteland under the black moonlit skies that barely illuminated the desolate realm. All around him stood large conical structures – their walls cracked and bumpy as they rose to around 10 feet each. They littered the area, fashioned with a black, slimy substance that coated the ground.

"Whoa …" He looked around. "Better lay off the pints." He fished out a sand ball. "Let's take a whack at it." He tossed it on a structure near him.

The ball struck the slime and spread through it, turning it yellow as it slowly broke apart and began to melt. The structure hollowed out and crumbled, releasing a young girl who fell over limply. He quickly ran up and lifted her gingerly, looking at her face as she was in deep sleep.

"Hmm, guess we'll need two." He grabbed a sand ball and tossed it at her, causing her body to disintegrate into glowing particles that whisked away and disappeared. "Better stop talkin' to myself." He rose to his feet.

He fished out sand balls, ready to toss them around when the ground beneath him broke, opening a chasm that sucked him in. The fissure closed, releasing more slime that spread around.

* * *

BUNNY SCREAMED as he hurled helplessly through a lifeless void, catching himself in place as he tried to keep steady. His eyes roamed the plane, seeing different coloured gases permeate the air and fog his vision slightly. He turned to the right and gasped – quickly swimming back, flailing his limbs as he tried desperately to move away from what he saw.

"Oh my God." He breathed heavily.

Stretching high above and tapering out below, what stood before him sent shivers down his spine – manacling him as he failed to move any further. A giant floated in the realm, it's body armoured in purple and blue as it stretched to dizzying heights of two hundred and seventy feet. The being turned down to him, it's cold black eyes striking fear in his soul as it stared him down silently.

Gases moved into the being, sucking everything like a vortex as he was pulled in as well. He flailed his arms around, trying to escape the unstoppable current as the giant absorbed everything around him. The being suddenly shuddered, his body cringing as he curled up.

"What the …" Bunny gasped.

The giant screamed as it was flung back, pulled like a ragdoll across the realm and disappearing into the darkness. Bunny steadied himself, sighing in relief when a bright light blinked in the distance, followed by a thunderous explosion as the wave pushed him back. He raised his head slowly and looked to the horizon, seeing a large black hole slowly draw closer.

* * *

"OKAY, HOW about my cane? You sure can't explain that." Jack turned to Tom as the two flew over the city.

"A device that manipulates the electrical charge and pressure in the atmosphere to create ice." Tom deadpanned.

"Hmm, guess everything can be explained with science." Jack pocketed his hands. "Or you can just say it's magic."

"Or just basic physics and TV." Tom shrugged. "Doesn't need much thinking really."

"Why can't you just accept that we're spirits?" Jack raised his brow. "It's not that farfetched."

"Right, like flooding the entire world in a matter of days? Putting carnivores and herbivores in the same boat and having them survive for forty straight days? There no such thing as God or spirits."

"Never mentioned God – just asked what your explanation for my powers is."

"Well, they both make no sense to me." Tom frowned.

"You're gonna find that you're wrong on both accounts my friend." Jack looked around. "You Atheists are so angry."

"Don't believe that either."

"Suit yourself." Jack flew ahead of him. "Hey, it's one a' those cube things."

A large Rubik's cube floated in the sky above them, rotating and spraying out cabbages wearing top hats with muscular arms and chainsaws. Jack grabbed a sand ball and tossed it on the cube, making it split in half and release a toy train made of avocadoes and wrenches. The two flew through the opening, entering a bright light that transported them into a green field. They looked around when Bunny suddenly fell out of a portal, slamming into them and hurling into another portal.

Tom struggled to his feet. "Was that Bunny?"

"Yeah." Jack stood up, searching for him. "Where is he?"

"Where are _we_?" Tom frowned.

The two traversed the expanse, their path lined with rocks that bridged over a massive sea of black water that had green explosions in the distance leading up to a castle on an island. The edifice stretched high into the clouds, walled in black slime and riddled with cracks and fissures that ran up and down its length. Moving up to the building, Tom scoffed, looking around at the rocky terrain.

"Obvious villain lair." He turned to Jack. "Wanna go first?"

"Okay." Jack walked past him.

"I always give courtesy to ladies." Tom smirked.

"Why you little –,"

Tom gasped. "Were you about to insult a child? Rude!" Jack growled and smacked his cane against the twin doors, sending them flying down the foyer. "What're you doing?"

"Pretty sure whoever we're after already knows we're here already." Jack entered the building."

"True dat." Tom shrugged.

Tom and Jack entered the foyer, taking in the insipid walls and bland carpet that spread out into the other room. Tom stopped and frowned, hearing a shrill scream come from up ahead – running toward the source of the voice. Jack followed him, ending up in a large circular room that had several doorways leading into multiple corridors.

"What is it?" Jack looked around.

"I heard Mary." Tom listened.

"Where?"

Tom paused. "Follow me."

Tom ran down a hall to the left, leaving Jack who stood motionlessly in the room – letting him disappear into the darkness. He watched the boy leave, a smirk growing on his face as he looked up at the ceiling. His eyes glowed red and his body froze in place, slowly sinking into the ground and disappearing into the floor.

Tom ran down the hall, breathing heavily as Mary's cries echoed through the halls – increasing his panic. He entered a large throne room, its pillars and walls plastered with Roman architecture tapering out to the end of the expanse where a tall, black cloaked figure wielding a scythe sat on the cathedra. Seeing the boy, the being stood and moved toward Mary who was held in a black cocoon.

"Mary!" Tom ran toward the being. The creature grabbed Mary and shouldered her, creating a ball in its hand that it tossed against the wall, opening a portal. "No, stop!"  
Red energy burst out of Tom and he flew after the creature, tackling it into the portal.

* * *

"DARKNESS … that's the first thing I remember. It was dark and it was cold, and I was scared …"

"And I'll forever be haunted."

Jack floated helplessly in a pool of water, the dark abyssal depths giving nothing but black as he slowly rose to the only source of light above him. He hit the surface, breaking through the ice in his ascent. The forest around him dimmed out of focus, his sight set only on the bright light of the moon that shone in the sky.

Blood spread across the face of the moon, enveloping the white light and coating it in crimson. The blue skies reddened in its unearthly glow, the once beautiful night turned dim. The surface of the moon slowly changed, bumps showing as the contours of a humanoid figure slowly formed.

* * *

BLOOD COATED Tom's hands, his appendages shaking as his breaths shivered out of him. Debris spread all around him, broken cars, streetlights and corpses littering around in a city that stood in a heaping ruin.

Iron Man plummeted to the ground, his torso ablaze as he grazed against the earth and smacked against a wall. The black being walked down a destroyed street, looking at the destruction he caused. Hiro flew toward him, firing sonic beams wildly at him that barely made him flinch. The being sliced the boy in half, right through his armour and tossed his body aside.

Elsa screamed in fear, scrambling around as she tried to escape the being that stalked toward her. The creature stepped on her leg, crushing her bones and grabbed her neck, lifting her body effortlessly into the air as he strangled her. Goku flew toward him, charging up an energy ball at his side. The being smashed Elsa's head, tossing her corpse aside and grabbed Goku, slamming him on the ground.

Tom breathed heavily as he looked around, trying to think as all options faded from his mind. He stopped as he saw Thor's hammer lying in the dirt, his severed hand clung to its hilt as its shattered metal spread across the ground. Tom turned to his right, seeing Mary's lacerated corpse.

Tears flowed down his cheeks, his fists white-knuckling as he beat them against the dirt in anger. He screamed in rage, injuring his hands as he wept bitterly. The black cloaked figure scoped the cityscape, raising his head to the sky as it slowly turned black. The being turned to Tom, fear manacling him as it drew closer to him.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Hello, again! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! It didn't take very long to write, but it did take a lot to get myself down to the keyboard. This past few weeks, I've been struggling with inspiration for our fics and as a result, I haven't been posting any chapters. Juggling four fics at a go is a challenge on its own, so it'd take more effort on my part to give you the best quality stories we can give.**

 **Since we (Me and my friend I'll call my editor for fun) started this whole fanfiction deal, our review rates have been pretty low, our current books being the lowest of them all. No, I'm not here to beg and plead, but to simply ask for you to help us give you better stories. I write fanfiction as a means of practicing for my film scripts. Sure, they're different forms of media entirely, but it helps me keep on my toes and ensure that I do my best in my original stories and I can't do that if I don't know where I'm going wrong. I'd like to ask if you could help us by telling us your thoughts in reviews. Where are we going wrong? What are we doing right? What would you like to see more of? Things like that. Your reviews help us better our stories and helps me practice for my own stories. So, if you read our fics, show the love and or hate in a review.**

 **Anyway, enough of that. What did you think of this chapter in particular? Was it good, great – could be better? We'd like to know and also, stop by our Deviantart page to check out some of our character designs. Hopefully, we'll have some characters from this fic in future, so be sure to see the ones we have.**

 **If you wanna see more, read more, favourite or follow and Await the Awesomeness as we dive into the Universe. Thanks for reading.**


	5. Realm of the Abyss

**REALM OF THE ABYSS**

SMOKE BILLOWED into the air as the city of San Fransokyo stood decimated – buildings and vehicles lying in heaps under black skies filled with crows. Tom knelt in a pile of debris – his bloodshot eyes set on the ground before him as he muttered to himself and looked at his bruised hands. The cloaked figure walked toward him slowly, leaving behind the corpses of several fallen heroes.

Fear consumed Tom's expression as the being drew closer, hardening and turning into blasé as he looked up at the creature that stopped in its tracks – laughing as he stood up. "You think these cheap parlour tricks will work on me." His voice reverberated as if two people spoke at once. "You amuse me." He looked around. "All these people coming to San Fransokyo at once? Elsa, Goku? You think me a fool? And you, Obitus." He pointed at the figure. "After a millennia of watching, there's no way you'd come here now and ruin your entertainment. You're not here and all of this is a lie."

Tom's eyes glowed brightly and the realm dissipated into black smoke, clearing and revealing him in a dark hall. Staggering back, he held his face as his eyes stopped glowing and he leaned against a wall. Fighting a searing headache, he shook his head and looked forward – pillars lining in the centre of the room leading up to black slime rising up to the ceiling in a conical shape.

"What's going on?" He looked around in confusion, turning back to the wall and squinting. "Mary?"

He ran across the room and stood before the structure, touching it and feeling around its rough edges. Clutching to a crack, he pulled apart the casing, breaking it and ripping it off, revealing Mary lying within. Shattering the structure, he pulled out her out and laid her on the ground, touching her and seeing that she was unconscious.

"Mary? You okay?" He shook her. "Mary?"

Grunting, she pried her eyes open and looked around – setting them on him with a small smile. "Well, aren't you dreamy? My Knight in Shining Armour." She giggled. "But you can sweep me off my feet tomorrow, I've gotta get back to sleep."

"Mary, wake up! It's not a dream!"

"It isn't?" She raised her brow.

Her body glowed dimly and began to disappear, making him jerk back in surprise as she vanished. "What the?" He looked around, his eyes setting upon the satchel he wore across his shoulder. "Oh, right, forgot." He stood up. "Still in the Dream Realm."

Shrugging, Tom headed down the expanse and left the room, entering the hall and looking around in curiosity as Jack was nowhere in sight. Running around the building, he headed back into the circular room he came from, seeing the silver-haired man kneeling on the ground.

"Uh, Jack? You okay?" He moved up to him.

Frowning, the man rose up and held his staff, turning to him. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Well, I just got Mary outta here, so we should get going and rendezvous with the others."

"Sure thing." Jack placed the staff across his shoulders and headed down the hall.

Tom looked at the spirit curiously as he walked ahead of him, brushing it aside and following out of the building. Moving down the rocky path over the black water, he pocketed his hands and looked at the waters on either side, frowning as he saw them stand still. He looked out at the distance, seeing an explosion send out a wave that blew his hair back.

"Wait." Tom stopped in his tracks.

"What is it?" Jack turned to him.

"The water, it's not moving."

"Yeah, so?"

"It's not moving." Tom squatted and looked at the lake closely. "When we came earlier, there were waves because of the explosions, but nothing's happening now."

"Your point? This is the _Dream Realm_ where cows fly in the sky and dog sharks made of coffee bark underwater – nothing makes sense here." Jack walked on. "Let's get moving before something else happens."

"Okay." Tom stood up and jerked back in shock. "I think we're a little late on that."

"What're you talking about?"

Bubbles spread throughout the waters on either side of the bridge, tensing them up as they watched them rise up. Black humanoid creatures with feathers running down their heads and backs rose out of the depths – hands clasping onto the edges of the rocky bridge.

"We gotta get outta here!" Jack ran onward.

Spinning his staff, he launched up into the air and suddenly fell – his weapon flying out of reach. "What happened?" Tom turned to him.

"Just our luck – the gravity's outta whack here!"

"Run for it then!" The boy ran past him.

Grabbing his cane, Tom tossed it to Jack and sped on when two creatures pounced on him – holding him and trying to melt into his skin. Jack struck them with a jet of ice, smashing hem with a swing and snatching the boy as he ran on. A sea of black tailed them as the monsters came onto the bridge, cutting them off on both ends.

"God dammit." Tom groaned.

"I've got this!" Jack twirled his weapon.

Lifting the staff up high, he smacked it against the rocks, spreading frost out and freezing the beasts as they converged on them. He smirked and turned to Tom who frowned as he heard a cracking sound, seeing the ice slowly fracture. The beasts broke out and descended upon them – receiving rapid strikes from Jack as he quickly fought them off.

A creature grabbed Tom's arm and pulled him, its limb melting over his. "Hey, get off me!" He threw a punch, jerking back as a strip of red energy shot out of his fist. "Whoa!"

"We need to find a way out of here fast." Jack looked around as he saw bubbles rise around them.

Tom looked around hastily and raised his head to the sky, grinning widely. "Look, it's the Rubik's Cube."

Jack looked up and smiled. "Hey, isn't that nice." He nodded. "Except for the fact that it's twenty freakin' feet above us and we can't fly!"

"Hey, I was just pointing it out!" Tom frowned.

"Well, stand back, I'll handle this." Jack pushed him aside, fishing out a sand ball. "Here we go!" He tossed it up and it soared, flying to the right and splashing into the water to the right.

"Y'know, if you're trying to pitch the Guardian job to me, I'm sold."

"Shut up!"

"I mean, aside from being aliens, having bad aim –,"

"I said shut up!" Jack jerked back as the creatures ran toward them. "Okay, second time's the charm." He tossed it up and it fell on his face, knocking him out as small teeth floated around his head.

Tom groaned, shaking his head. "That's just nice, isn't it?"

Looking at the creatures around them, he scrambled through Jack's bag and drew out a sand ball. He tossed it up and hit the Rubik's cube, cheering as it opened and released a small ladder made out mangoes that couldn't reach him. Cursing to himself, he sifted his mind when a beast jumped on him.

He fired an energy ball at the beast, knocking it back and jumping away from another that jumped toward him. The monsters surrounded him and grabbed him from all sides, trying to melt into his skin while pushing him toward the edge of the bridge. He tried to push them back but was overwhelmed – his foot falling off and dipping into the water where a hand came up and grabbed his ankle.

Getting pulled into the water, he grunted as the monsters combined into a pile of slime, slowly sinking into his arms as he shielded himself. Screaming in pain, he sent them flying with a blast that erupted from his body, knocking several of the creatures off him and into the ocean. He fell to his knees and panted, raising his arm and seeing a black patch on it slowly dissipate.

He looked to his left and saw Jack unconscious – seeing more creatures converge on them. Rising to his feet, he sifted his mind as he looked around the area and scanned the ground. He clenched his fists as he failed to come up with anything, feeling energy surge through him as frustration filled his thoughts.

"Ah, dammit!" He stomped on the ground, feeling it shudder and jerking back. "Whoa." He looked at his hands. "That's it!"  
He closed his eyes and focussed on his anger, feeling his aura grow and burst out of his body. Blasting a monster that lunged at him, he grabbed Jack and flew toward the Rubik's cube and entered the opening.

* * *

"SON OF a –,"

Bunny hurled out of a portal and slammed into Tom who burst out of another gateway – plummeting and crashing onto the rocky earth below. Shaking his head from the searing pain, Bunny pushed himself up and looked at the other two, scoffing as he took in his surroundings and stood.

"Ya really picked a good time to go into the crazy tube a' madness in this godforsaken place."

"You should try the portal lined with baseball bats, pants and tangerines – totally fun." Tom grunted.

"Well, guess that's what was on my mind, huh?" Jack roused.

"What was?" The boy turned to him.

"Ah, it was nothing." Jack rose to his feet. "Right now we've gotta get outta here."

"Wherever here is."

Bunny looked around and chuckled. "Well, at least we're back in this place." He fished out a sand ball, moving past Jack and Tom as they scoped the area filled with conical slime structures. "Time to get to work."

"What is this place?" Tom's brows stitched as he touched one of the structures.

"Dunno, but this's where the people in comas are being held." Tom tossed the ball onto a cone, watching it disintegrate.

"How many are here?" Jack searched his satchel. "Could be hundreds."

"Let's make sure no one else ends up like this." Tom frowned determinedly, looking through his bag when he heard crows squawking.

"What was that?" Jack held his cane tightly.

The boy listened carefully, feeling fear deep in his gut. "No, it's happening!"  
"What is?" The Guardian turned to him.

"The thing I saw when we went into the castle! I thought I was dreaming, but it's here!"

Low moans filled the air as the squawks loudened – a dark mist spread across the horizon and further blackening the skies. Clangs filled their ears as the cloaked figure approached them slowly – crows flying behind him and forming a deep cloud that overshadowed the land. The haze spread forth and covered the slime cones, annihilating them into ash that faded away.

"He's killing the people here!" Jack flew toward him, ready to swing his staff when an upsurge threw him back. "What the hell?"

"Whatever that thing is, we've gotta stop it!" Bunny stuffed his hand into his bag when the mist swooped past and destroyed it. "Crikey!"

"Bunny, make us a tunnel!" Tom's eyes dilated in fear.

"I'm already on it, mate!" Bunny tapped his foot on the ground and nothing happened.

"What happened?" Jack turned to him.

"I dunno." Bunny stomped on the ground repeatedly.

"Bunny!" Jack and Tom yelled.

"Do you think I'm just standing here doing no –," A large tunnel opened around the trio and sucked them in. "Thing!" His voice echoed as he descended to the depths. Hitting the bottom of the ditch, Bunny groaned as he clutched to rocks and stood up, frowning as the hole above didn't close and the mist approached. "We've gotta move!" The trio ran down the tunnel.

* * *

"YOU REALLY think so?" Tooth's brow rose, her lips pursing in timidity. "I don't think I can." She picked a ball from her bag and tossed it at a man asleep in a car. A hand with a thumbs up rose from Sandy's head and he smiled. "Thanks." She continued down the street alongside him and he turned to her, creating a question mark above him. "Why am I telling you this?" He nodded. "Well, I dunno, I just feel okay telling you cuz you're not really talking." He frowned. "No, I don't mean it like that I –," He pouted and walked away from her. "Oh, Sandy." She followed him when a hole opened in the road before them that Bunny, Jack and Tom climbed out of. "Guys?"

"We need to get the hell outta here!" Bunny's eyes widened with fear.

"What –,"  
The mist seeped through the ground, flooring it and permeating the air, obscuring their vision as they squinted. The cloaked figure rose from the ground and turned to them – his presence instilling fear in Tooth who quickly flew back. Sandman thrust his palms forward, spraying sand onto the being. Nothing happened.

Tom breathed heavily, looking on in shock. "How, how di …" His eyes darted around in a panic.

"Even you can't stop him?" Bunny turned to Sandy. "I thought you had control over the dream realm.

Jack looked to Sandman, seeing the look of helpless on his face as the cloaked being walked toward them. "We need to get out of here!"

Sandy forged a sand ball and threw it to the sky – its particles spreading and creating a Rubik's Cube that opened and released a ladder made of swords. Jack looked at him in disapproval and he shrugged, surrounding Bunny's feet in a cloud and rising into the air. Tom, Jack and Tooth flew after him, looking down at the cloaked figure who simply watched them leave.

"Why isn't he chasing us?" Tom's brows stitched as he turned to him.

"Something's wrong." Jack stopped flying .

"Oh crap!" Tooth dove down.

A massive wave of crows flew over them, knocking them to the ground as they covered the sky and shattered the cube. The ground beneath them broke apart and floated in the air, snakes and propellers flying out underneath and spreading around. Buildings shot out through the birds, scattering them and creating a maze as obstacles filled the airspace.

"As if this place wasn't enough of a head – ache!" Bunny was flung through the air.

A vacuum opened to the right, pulling the Guardians toward the buildings and rocks that floated around. Tom shot down two boulders and smashed through a building, bouncing onto still air and crashing into a cow. Tooth flew around and hit Lego Batman who exploded and hit Jack, Bunny and Sandy.

A giant gorilla ran through the boulders and flailed its arms around, transforming into a gecko, a chicken and stove. The Guardians flew around the machine and Tom rose into the air, shaking his head when a candle with penguins for arms swooped past and slapped him in the face repeatedly – the avian creatures gobbling like Turkeys.

"Why does this have to keep happening to me!" He was hurled aside and smacked into a crow that pinched him repeatedly. "Get off!" He punched it aside.

"You know, I could get used to this." Jack laid back as he was flung around, sighing as he broke through rocks and boulders when a pumpkin flew up to him and waved a wand, turning his jacket pink. "Oh, that's it!" He froze it and blew it to pieces.

The buildings around them exploded, releasing several people that floated around them in deep sleep. The mist spread around, engulfing them one by one and turning them to ash that disappeared. "No!"

"Sandy, you have to do something about this!" Bunny swerved around a car that spun towards him.

Sandy shot jets of sand rapidly at the mist and it fizzled away – thrusting his hands out and spraying large amounts that caused an explosion that threw them back. Jack rubbed his eyes and looked around, his mouth falling agape as the people turned into ash and disintegrated. Tom frowned as he looked at the clouds around him, turning to Sandman who lowered his head.

"This … this isn't really happening? Is it?" Sandman didn't respond.

"But, they're still okay, right? They'll just wake up, won't they?" Tooth turned to him hopefully. He shook his head.

Sandy summoned a ball of sand and threw it at the sky, summoning a Rubik's Cube that slowly cracked. He turned to Jack who nodded stiffly. "We need to go." His voice quietened.

The mist rose up and pulled at Tooth, turning her feathers black. "Jack!"

"Tooth!" Jack flew toward her and Sandy shot the mist, pushing it back and freeing her. "Come on, let's go!" He grabbed her hand.

"The cube's breaking!" Tom yelled.

"Hurry up!" Bunny jumped toward it.

The Guardians flew toward the cube, manoeuvring around floating rubble and entering it.

* * *

A CRACK appeared in mid-air over the floor in the Workshop, opening a rift that Jack, Tooth, Tom, Bunny and Sandy fell out of, startling the Yetis and Elves who crowded around them. Tooth pushed himself up, groaning as he saw the others rise to their feet – all of them sharing his anger at their failure. Jack turned to the window and frowned, his fist nearly cracking his cane as Tooth looked at him in worry.

"Jack –,"

"We failed." He sighed. "We're supposed to protect them, but we couldn't do anything."

Bunny dusted himself and sheathed his boomerangs. "Doubt this'll make things any better, but we can still get back up and stop the guy behind this. It's not over."

Tooth took a deep breath shakily and turned to Tom who stared at the ground silently. "Hey, you okay?" She moved up to him.

He glanced at her then pocketed his hands. "Can I go home?"

She looked at Sandy then turned back to him. "Sure." She rubbed his back.

* * *

THE DOOR creaked open as Tom entered the foyer of his house, shutting it behind him and hearing his mother quickly walk toward him. Meeting his downtrodden face with surprise, she stepped back. "Tom, are you okay? You left yesterday and we couldn't call you."

"Yeah." He avoided eye contact. "Just went to see Mary."

"I called them and they said she was in a coma."

"She was, but she's okay now."

"Then what's wrong?" She frowned.

"It's nothing." He walked away from her. "I'll be in my room if you need me."

"Tom." She followed him then stopped as he continued up the steps. Sifting her mind, she turned to the living room, seeing a news report of the deaths of five hundred people who'd fallen into comas.

WINDS HOWLED over a frozen mountain as Reindeer hoofs met the summit – bells clanging as several of the animals queued to the edge. Holding the reins, North looked forward and frowned as he got of his sleigh and walked onward. A castle stood on the ground below, stretching high into the clouds and walled in black slime and riddled with cracks and fissures that ran up and down its length.

"So, it's in the real world now." He frowned. "This is very bad."

* * *

 **Welcome to the Universe! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Lately we've been having issues with keeping up with weekly updates with chapters now coming once ever one or two months at a time. We haven't given up on these stories, but it has been hard to pump them out each time. Hopefully, we'll get back in sync soon enough. If you wanna see more, read more, favourite or follow and Await the Awesomeness as we dive into the Universe. Thanks for reading.**


	6. Convergence

**CONVERGENCE**

TOOTH LOOKED on at the lights on the globe, her face filled with worry as she turned to her fellow Guardians behind her. Jack stood furthest from the others, his head facing a wall as he was consumed in his thoughts. The fairy hovered over to him and held his shoulder reassuringly, her expression faltering as she saw his remained angered.

"500 hundred people all dead at once." Bunny huffed. "The most I'd seen were a dozen, but not this many in a go."

"And most of them were children." Jack frowned and turned to him. "Whoever did this is gonna pay."

"But how're we gonna do anything when the Dream Realm's in shambles?" Tooth turned to Sandy who shook his head, forging a clock above him.

"It's still fine? We just have to wait?" Jack raised his brow and the Sandman nodded.

"Well, even if it stabilizes, we can't do much in its state. Whatever's behind this is ripping the realm around and I'd like to keep my feet on the ground for once." Bunny fished out his boomerang and twirled it, walking up to the others. "There's gotta be another solution."

Jack sifted his mind and moved away from them. "We saw those creatures in the real world, so if we follow them, they could lead us to who sent them."

"Finding them is the problem." Tooth crossed her arms. "They could be literally anywhere on earth."

An aurora glimmered on the globe, drawing Sandy's attention as he pointed the others to it. Jack squinted as he moved over to it, looking at the country the light came from. "What's Fiore?"

"It's a small kingdom in Eurostralia." Tooth flew up to him. "Why's it glowing?"

A candy cane appeared over Sandy's head and he turned to Bunny. "North?"

"What's he doing there?" Jack raised his brow.

* * *

SLURPING HIS soda loudly, Tom sat back and looked at a picture he'd drawn on his tablet, spinning around on his swivel chair and humming to a song he listened to on headsets. Sliding back to the table, he picked up his stylus pen when he felt the ground rumble, turning to his left and seeing his drink slowly float out of the cup.

"What the hell?"

* * *

NORTH'S BOOTS grazed against the ground as he blocked a black humanoid creature with feathers running down its back – its yellow eyes set on him as it lashed out and swung at his head. Cutting down the beast, he looked around him as many others gathered, chuckling as he brandished his swords. "Come on!"

A beast lunged at him and he flipped over it, cutting its back and landing on the ground behind it as another charged at him. He dodged as it swiped its claws at him, slashing it across the gut and spinning to one, driving his swords into a creature that jumped toward him. He ripped out the weapons, turning to the rest of the monsters when jets of ice shot down onto them, freezing them whole and shattering to bits.

Raising his head to the sky, he smiled and gave a hearty laugh as he saw Jack and Tooth hovering above along with Bunny who stood on Sandy's cloud. "Ah, it's good to see the signal still works."

Jack looked around and frowned as his eyes set on the castle. "How's that here?"

"Isn't that supposed to be in the Dream Realm?" Tooth turned to Sandy who shrugged.

"That's what I've been looking into. Whatever is behind this is affecting both worlds." North turned to the edifice.

"No need to tell us twice." Bunny hopped off the cloud, drawing his boomerangs. "We've gotta stop the guy behind this."

"Let's storm this place." North smirked.

Leading the charge, Nick ran up to the castle and kicked the door down, watching it topple over toward several beasts that lurked through the foyer. Jack swooped down and swung his staff, sending out waves of ice that froze the creatures – the other Guardians following after as they attacked the horde.

Tooth swam through the creatures as she flew, manoeuvring between them and slashing them with her wings. Rising above them, she flapped her wings rapidly, gathering wind that propelled the beasts into the air, stopping and letting them plummet. She soared upward and skewered the fallen foes, zigzagging between each of them then corkscrewing to the ceiling to watch their mutilated bodies pepper the floor.

Bunny hopped up to a beast that ran toward him, diving into a tunnel and letting it fall inside. Leaping out of a hole, he threw his boomerangs at a cluster of creatures and smirked, watching as the weapons that had eggs attacked come clashing together. A massive vacuum opened and swallowed the monsters whole, quickly dissipating in a wave that knocked the remaining foes off their feet. The rabbit landed and caught his boomerangs, twirling them and eyeing the monsters as they struggled to their feet.

Sandy rose high into the air and flipped downwards, cracking large whips onto a group of creatures and launching them upward. Landing on the ground, he twirled his body and lashed out at the beasts – smacking them against the walls and tying them up simultaneously. Holding the whips together, he jumped and collected the foes into a ball, smashing them against the floor and creating a crater.

Cutting down the last creature, North turned to the others. "Let's keep moving."

Jack descended and walked amongst the other, stopping as they moved toward a hall. "Wait, there were illusions back here when Tom and I came to the Dream Realm." Sandy turned to him and frowned, his body slowly exuding sand that spread out and wove around the heads of the Guardians. Blinking repeatedly, Jack looked around and jerked in surprise as the stood on a narrow bridge in the middle of a massive chasm littered with vertical poles that rose high above them and scythes that floated between them. "Well, that's new."

North looked at the walls around them, frowning at the architecture as he turned to the end of the bridge, seeing a man seated on a large, black cathedra. "You."

"Ah, Guardians, it's been a long time." Pitch smiled as he leaned back.

* * *

TOM STOOD up quickly as he watched the cup hover slowly into the air, seeing the liquid dissipate into bubbles that splashed onto him. He hissed as it touched his skin, seeing steam rise though he was unscathed. Stepping back, he looked around the room and frowned as several objects began to levitate, nearing the ceiling steadily.

He walked toward the ceiling and fell, holding onto the window as the room flipped to its side and furniture hurled onto the wall below.

Clasping tightly against the pane, he tried to pull himself up, feeling his fingers slip as he fell off and slammed against the wall, falling right through it and into the hallway. Slamming onto the concrete, he ran on as the furniture plummeted toward him, rolling toward him and smacking against the floor and ceiling. Reaching the end of the corridor, he leaped onto an open doorway and clung to the metal, pulling himself into the kitchen.

"Mom, I –," He gasped as he stood up, seeing his mother float helplessly above him. "Mom?"

A bright light entered the corner of his eye and he turned to the dark evening street, seeing a car flying toward him.

* * *

"PITCH, OF course – it all makes sense now." North frowned.

"Well, what a fine way to say hello." Pitch chuckled, pushing himself up and ripping off the helmet of his heavy, black, form fitting armour and tossing it aside. "It's funny, I'd assumed you'd have known better than to think anyone but the King of Nightmares would bring about so much chaos."

"Nightmares? More like an acid trip, mate." Bunny walked toward him. "Lemme show you what a true nightmare is."

"Hmm, I feared something like that would happen, but I thought I might as well break the four year streak of procrastination, wouldn't you agree? At least give you something to busy yourself with while I regained my strength."

"You monster!" Tooth hovered forward. "You killed five hundred innocent people and for what? Just so people would fear you?"

"For power."

"What do you mean?" Jack raised his brow.

"Oh, don't tell me you're so daft, Guardian – your friend Sandy knows what's happening." Pitch smirked. "And you know more than anyone else here, don't you, North?" He chuckled at the Guardian's angered expression, looking at the others then leaning back. "The Dark Day was a pivotal moment in history, a day when fear _truly_ reigned. You could all feel it? The hopelessness? Despair? Every soul in the universe bound in nightmares that haunted them for weeks on end?" He laughed. "That day did a lot for me and allowed me to break free. I had power and could've easily gone on a rampage, but I then something came to mind – why not aim higher? Why not make the world a _living_ nightmare?"

"You're going to merge the real world with the dream world." North frowned.

"Quite literally and it didn't take much for me to do it." Pitch smirked. "This world is on a tipping point and highly unstable – with dimensions merging with ours, it's a true miracle that a black hole hasn't opened. So, I decided to give it a little push."

"You fool! This is madness." North walked toward him. "You think you could rule if the Dream Realm became real? Even you would be destroyed in the anarchy if people's thoughts were bought to life."

"That is none of my concern, but yours is the lives of those pathetic children in San Fransokyo; you can chose to stop me or save them."

"What have you done?" Jack growled.

"Literally nothing." Pitch chuckled. "The city lies on the largest dimensional fault line on earth, so that's where worlds will merge and create a dark matter bomb. As dreams become real, so do nightmares and with people trapped in their sleep, they lay ripe for the picking."

Jack screamed angrily and flew toward Pitch and a scythe shot toward him, nearly cutting his side as he quickly blocked with his staff and was knocked off the bridge. The weapons darted all around them and the Guardians deflected them – North weaving through the cluster and smacking them aside with his swords.

"We must split up and stop more people from getting killed!" He ducked and cut a scythe in half. "Bunny, Tooth, head over to the city! We've got this!"

"On it, mate!" The rabbit opened a hole and hopped into it, followed by Tooth who flew after him.

Jack whacked three sickles aside and sped toward Pitch who quickly rose to his feet and summoned a scythe to his side, locking blades with him in a titanic clash. "You're gonna pay for what you've done!" Jack pushed Pitch back, dragging him against the concrete.

* * *

LOUD RINGING invaded Tom's ears as he pushed himself up, feeling a heavy pang envelop his body as he pushed himself up. Turing to his right, he saw the wrecked car crashed against the wall and his mother lying on the ceiling in front of him. The room rumbled and turned over, making the car and his mother fall to the window to his left.

"Mom!" He skidded against the wall and jumped toward her, shielding part of her as the car smashed over him. Prying his eyes open, he gasped as he looked around him, seeing red energy spreading – the car hovering in destroyed pieces in the room. "What the hell …?" He looked at his hands. "My powers are back." He turned to the window below.

Blasting the glass, he flew through the hole and swerved around the building as he lifted his mother – the house rotating slowly amongst several others in the decimated suburbs that floated above the damaged ground. Breathing heavily, he sifted his mind as buildings slowly began to rise steadily toward the city in the distance – the horizon blurring as potatoes, monkeys and accordions filled the sky above the neighbourhood. He turned to his house and hovered around it, seeing his father lying against an inverted couch in the living room.

"Dad!" He touched the window, frowning as he got no response and moved back. He shot an energy ball at the glass and jerked back in surprise as it spread around the glass and slowly enveloped the building. "Huh?"

Heavy creaking noises came as the apartment slowly turned over and descended to the ground – the damage steadily reversing as walls reconstructed and windows came back together. The car phased out of the building and landed on the driveway as the building landed – the house and yard returning to normal amidst the chaos around it.

"Whoa …" He looked at his mother, seeing her stir slightly and turned to the building, slowly descending to it. Entering the house, he moved into the living room and placed the woman on the couch, stepping back and huffing in relief.

"Mom? … mom!" Mary's voice echoed in his mind.

"Mary!" He looked around.

"Tom?"  
"Mary, w-where are you?"

"Man, did I have too much sugar again?"

"No, I'm here." Tom sighed. "I'm glad you're okay."

"How're you in my head?"

"I don't know, I just am." He shrugged. "I can just … hear you."

"That's trippy." She laughed.

"Where are you?"

"At home, my house is –," Tom turned sharply to the windows as he heard loud screeches, seeing several Nightmares flying toward him – their bodies taking humanoid and animal forms. "What was that?"

"Dammit." He growled.

* * *

BALLS OF dust erupted as pillars in Pitch's throne room collapsed sporadically, falling to the depths of the chasm as he and Jack skidded along the bridge from a powerful collision. Flying back at him, the Guardian swung at his head and missed as he dodged and jumped back, firing a black wave at him. Sandy threw a whip at Pitch who swerved out of the way and shot down to him, evading his strikes and smashing his palm into his chest, sending him flying through a wall at the far end of the room.

North slashed wildly at Pitch and they locked blades, exchanging strikes as the Boogeyman swiftly deflected his attacks while twirling his scythe. Smacking away one of his sword, he crashed down on him with a heavy blow that he barely blocked – Santa's feet digging into the floor as it cracked. Pitch head butted him, stunning him and grabbing his limp body, throwing him against the ceiling and walking on as he crashed down.

Seeing the fallen Guardians around him, he cast aside his scythe and moved along the bridge. "You know how you always talk about wonder? Changing the world and making it better? Well, I'd like to show you something." He snapped his finger and opened a large portal, spreading his arms and expanding it for all to see.

Jack winced as he pushed himself up, holding his burnt chest and tattered hoody as he looked at the gateway. The suburbs of San Fransokyo steadily rose into the air, houses, driveways and roads hovering in the air and moving slowly to the city. Nightmares smashed through the buildings and grabbed people inside, tearing their bodies apart and tossing their corpses aside. "No." He shut his eyes and gritted his teeth.

"Centuries ago, you took my world away from me, so I'm just returning the favour." Pitch smiled smugly. "You ushered in an age of carefree joy and bliss where children can play and have fun without any fear." He eyed each of them, his expression growing cold as he turned to Jack. "How does it feel now that the tables have turned? To watch everything you've worked for disintegrated before your very eyes?" He moved up to him. "I want you – all of you, to watch in horror as children and their parents are slaughtered like animals and when it's all over …" He summoned his scythe. "I will kill you."

Jack clenched his fist tightly and clawed against the cracked concrete, gathering all his strength as he tried to stand – fighting the pain as blood trickled out of his mouth. Pitch laughed maniacally as he enjoyed the looks of despair on the faces of the Guardians, ignoring Jack who got to his feet and stood wobbly. Holding his staff tightly, he moved toward the wraith and frowned deeply as an aura slowly rose out of his body.

"Come on, Jack." Pitch's laugh died down as he turned to him. "What're you going to –," He gasped in shock.

Frost snaked up the walls of the building, freezing it over and reaching the ceiling, encompassing the room in cold as winds gathered. Pitch covered his eyes as the gales grew stronger, his vision blurred as fog filled the room and obscured Jack who stood as a silhouette with glowing red eyes. Jack screamed in anger and shot toward Pitch, smacking his staff against his midsection and sending him hurling through the building.

Flying through the roof of the castle, Pitch flung through the air and crashed onto the mountainside, quickly scrambling to his feet as he looked at the sky in surprise. Jack soared out of the edifice and hovered in the heavens, summoning dark clouds that rumbled thunderously. Summoning a scythe, Pitch stood up and took a fighting stance, readying himself as Jack charged ice through his staff.

The two shot toward each other, breaking the sound barrier and colliding in the sky with a powerful explosion that echoed through the skies and sent out a massive shockwave that shattered parts of the mountain and the castle. Sonic booms appeared in the clouds as they struck each other at rapid speeds, moving through the skies and sped to the ground below. Jack smacked Pitch's scythe aside and grabbed his neck, smashing him against a hill that exploded on impact.

* * *

DROPPING A nightmare with a double-footed kick, Bunny hopped off a floating boulder and punched out a spirit, tossing his boomerangs at Tooth who flew past him. Grabbing the weapons, she threw them forward and propelled them with her wings, sending them smashing through several feathered humanoid beings and bouncing off buildings that careened out of control. Zooming through the hordes and shredding their bodies, she grabbed the boomerangs and flung them through a vacuum, sending them to Bunny who received them and struck down a beast.

Tom flew past them, over the airborne streets, firing at the destroyed houses, driveways and road and turning them back to normal as he headed for Mary's house. Descending on the house, he sent an energy ball at it and swooped inside, searching the halls as he went to her room. Pushing the door open, he looked down at her as she looked at her unconscious mother worriedly and jerked back in surprise as he saw a white aura rise out of her body.

"Tom?" She turned to him and gasped, her face lighting up in awe. "Y-you're flying?"

"Wha …" His brows furrowed as he landed in front of her. "You're glowing."

"Really, thank you." She smiled and clasped her hands together. "You couldn't resist me, could ya."

"No, you're really glowing."

"Huh?"

"Look at your hands."

She raised her brow and looked at her hands, seeing the aura intensify as he moved toward her. "You mean I have powers too?" He nodded and she squealed. "Ooh, ooh, lemme try something." She thrust her palm out and nothing happened. Glancing at him, she sifted her mind and pursed her lips, thinking hard then huffing. "I can't think of anything."

"Well –," He turned and shot an energy ball at a nightmare outside, turning back to her. "Well, do you wanna save the world with me? Or at least, the neighbourhood?" He held his hand out.

Her mouth opened slightly, cherry pink dusting her cheeks as she hesitantly held his hand, feeling her aura grow stronger upon touching him. "Y-yeah, sure."

Giving her a wide grin, he flew over to a window and led her outside, hovering over the decimated streets. Giving a reassuring look, he held her beside him and let go of her hand, smiling as she floated on her own. Swooping down to the nightmare horde, Tom shot energy balls at the beasts and at two houses nearby, making them descend to the ground.

"Oh, that's not fair, I wanna do something too." Mary crossed her arms and pouted.

"Well, _try_ something." He fired at beast that charged at him.

"Hmm." She thought hard, frowning as nothing came to mind and began to pace around in mid-air.

Swerving away from three monsters, he fired energy balls on them and turned to Mary, seeing several mass around her. "Mary, look out!"

"Wait, I'm trying to think." She flicked her hand dismissively sending out a wave that destroyed the horde instantly and blew nightmares nearby to the ground. "Whoa!" She jerked back and turned to him, seeing his equally shocked expression.

* * *

JACK AND Pitch exchanged two strikes and locked weapons, erupting in a wave that made snow rise. "Enough of this!" Pitch grabbed his wrist and snapped his arm, kicking him away and sending him hurling onto a mountain. "Your time is up, Guardian." He stalked toward him. "I've already won!" He raised his scythe at him. "Prepare to die."

Jack sat up slowly and lifted his head, seeing Pitch charge his scythe and fire a dark wave at him. Pitch smirked when the energy suddenly curved back and engulfed him, exploding and sending wind that blew rocks aside. Opening his eyes, Jack frowned as he looked around, seeing nothing as the wraith had disappeared. Breathing heavily, he slumped back and fell unconscious, hearing the muffled voices of North deaden in his mind.

* * *

BUNNY HOPPED off several rooftops – moving past Tom who shot energy at houses and Tooth who whizzed through nightmare hordes – and jumped up, dropkicking a beast. Rolling to his feet, he drew his boomerangs when the house he stood on rumbled, slowly turning on its axis and descending to the ground below. "What's happening?"

"I dunno." Tooth looked around, seeing the nightmares disappear one by one.

"You think the others did it?" Tom hovered toward her.

"It's a safe bet." Bunny sheathed his boomerang.

"Yeah, we did it!" Mary cheered when she suddenly plummeted, letting out a sharp cry.

"Mary!" Tom fell as well, hurling several feet toward the ground.

"Tom!" Tooth flew and caught him before he hit the ground as Bunny leapt off the roof and grabbed Mary, rolling onto the street. Setting the children down, the Guardians looked at the street around them, smiling as people stirred and began to awaken.

"So, did we win?" Mary raised her brow.

"I think so." Tooth smiled. "The nightmares are gone and people are out of their comas."

"You did well, kid." Bunny ruffled Tom's hair.

"See, he could make a good guardian."

"Don't push it." Bunny walked off and Tooth chuckled.

"You were going to be a guardian?" Mary turned to Tom, her eyes wide in excitement.

"Well, maybe, but I can't without my powers. Ah, well, I didn't wanna be one anyway, so." He shrugged.

"It doesn't matter, Tom, you were still a great help." Tooth squatted to look him in the eye. "We wouldn't have managed to help anyone without your help." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "You did good, Tom and I bet we'd still make you an honorary Guardian."

"I think I'll pass on that." Tom chuckled.

Tooth smiled then stood up, glancing at Bunny who opened a tunnel. "Well, we've gotta head back." She rubbed his head. "If you need us, just call."

"How?" He frowned slightly.

"Fine, we'll come to you." She laughed and set off to the skies. "See you guys later!"

"See ya later." Bunny saluted them then dove into the hole.

Tom huffed and looked at the street, stretching out. "Man, I'm beat."

"Yeah." Mary kicked the ground and gave him a lingering look. "So … now what?"

"Huh … I dunno." He pocketed his hands. "Guess I'm gonna go home, watch TV."

"Yeah, sure." She sighed slightly.

"Well, see you tomorrow." He walked down the street.

"See you tomorrow." She waved at him, her expression falling as he merely flicked his hand and left. Tom glanced at Mary, seeing her walk down the driveway of her house and huffed, turning back to her. "Hey, Mary."

"Yeah?"

"You wanna hang out sometime? I was gonna see this movie on Saturday."

"Really?"

"Yeah, why not." He shrugged.

"Sure." She smiled and continued toward the house, watching him walk on and entered the house. "Yes!" She pumped her fist in the air excitedly, quickly clearing her throat as she saw Jewel standing near the staircase texting.

"What's up with you?" She raised her brow.

"Uh, nothing." She laughed uneasily.

"McCarthy asked you on a date, didn't he?" Jewel deadpanned.

"Shut up!" She blushed and walked off.

* * *

SETTING HIS glass of Vodka on his table, North sat back on his chair and looked at the other Guardians who sat around in the Workshop Globe room, seeing Tooth tending to Jack's wounds. "You sure it'll be okay?"

"Yeah, it doesn't hurt that much." Jack winced.

"So, long as you don't strain yourself." Tooth cleaned a cut on his rib.

"Well, everything is better now." North smiled.

"Not quite, mate." Bunny stood up. "We still have a bone to pick with you after you were gone during the entire time we were in the Dream Realm."

"We could've used your help, Nick." Jack's brows stitched.

"Yeah, where were you?" Tooth turned to him.

"Someplace far – it does not matter."

"Yes, it does." Jack frowned. "You can't just bail when something like this comes up and not tell us anything."

"Yeah, cuz if I remember correctly, Pitch said you knew exactly what was happening." Bunny pointed his boomerang at North.

"Yes and he explained it."

"No, there's something else afoot, mate and we deserve some answers." Bunny grew impatient.

"Trust me, the less you know, the better."

"The less we know about what?" Tooth raised her brow.

"There are things best unknown; it's too dangerous." North sighed. "I'm sorry, but if you know, it could lead to the end of the universe." Silence stilled the air as the Guardians shared looks of confusion and worry – Jack turning to Santa and trying to read his expression, failing to understand his words.

* * *

JACK MUMBLED in his sleep, images of a red moon, a castle in the icy north and an Ice Queen flashing in his mind, making jerk out of his sleep and look around in. His brows crossed as he took a closer look at his room, slowly rising from the bed in the Tooth's palace and stepping onto the floor. Ice slowly spread over the floor and snaked up the walls, freezing the ceiling and frosting over the windows – creating a large snowflake on the door. Frowning deeply, he stood up and donned his hood, grabbing his cane and moving up to the window, opening it.

He lowered his head and huffed his eyes coming alight in a deep red aura. "Clavis et ianua." He chanted quietly and flew out.

* * *

THE SOUNDS of the music from the wedding reception muffled in Elsa's mind as she recollected her thoughts and looked back on the year gone past. Raising her head, she looked up at the full moon that shone over the kingdom. She sighed and leaned on the guardrail, enthralled by its beauty when she frowned and stepped back.

Jack hovered in the air a few feet above her, descending slowly to her and seeing her look of shock. Moving closer to her, he frowned and stopped, looking around and sighing as he sifted his mind. Shaking his head, he flew away from her, leaving her standing in confusion.

"Uh, what was that?" She furrowed her brow.

* * *

THE SQUAWKS of crows and rattling of chains filled the air of the dark, cloudy realm – the feathers of the birds peppering down to the clouds below before a large cathedra. A cloaked, faceless, fifty foot giant sat on the throne and looked onward attentively, watching silent lightning flashes bring distant cities, forests, deserts, planets, stars and galaxies to light. A ball of black energy collected before him and dissipated, spitting out Pitch who fell on all fours on thin air.

"Rise, human." A loud, heavy voice emanated from the being, its tone echoing roughly with the sounds of growls, moans and low thunder.

Pitch frowned and pushed himself, chuckling slightly as he looked around. "You summoned me?"

"What are you doing?"

"What am I doing? What am I doing!? Trying to get away from you and your sorry excuse for a _life_ that you gave me and all those you've enslaved!"

"You challenge me?"

"Challenge you? No, I'm just working for someone who'll finally put you down."

"Oh, I understand now." The being crossed his arms. "You're working with Nightmare."

"Who else would I be working with? All I had to do was be there on earth and everything would have worked – it would have, until you had to step in like you always do!"

"Watch your tone." The being's voice grew angry. "Your foolishness brought you here." He sat back and crossed his arms. "You had one job, _one job_ and you blew it."

"I was simply pushing the earth in the direction it was going in." Pitch chuckled. "You have to admit that it's a ticking time bomb."

"What you did was reckless! You took a thousand lives!"

"And what is your job other than death, huh? You telling me not to kill!?"

"There is a balance, an order and you broke it."

"Balance? What's there is you watching and revelling in what's happening! It's all a game to you!" Pitch moved toward him. "You subjugate us! Kill and destroy and you lecture me? What have you –," The being raised his hand, halting him and making his eyes widen in terror. "Wait, I'm sorry, I –,"

"…Kozmotis Pitchiner."

Pitch gasped as his skin grew deathly pale, his eyes sinking into his face and a dark aura releasing out of him. He choked and fell over, his body slowly decomposing and turning into sand that whisked away, joining the dark clouds that filled the realm. The being turned to the skies ahead, watching the universe before him.

"So, what is your next move, old friend?"

* * *

TOM GARGLED and spat into the sink, turning off the faucet and wiping his mouth with a towel as he left the bathroom. Moving past his mother in the hallway, he headed into his room and closed the door, looking around and sighing as he grew calm. He walked over to his bed and sat down, putting the towel on the bedside table when he felt a twinge in his arm, lifting his hand and seeing a red aura fizzle out of it.

"What the hell?"

He frowned, turning around and seeing his room disappear and turn into the cloud filled realm Pitch was in. Gasping in shock, he saw the giant seated on the cathedra, backing up in horror as he fell back and smacked his head against the floor. He pushed himself up and looked around, seeing that he was back in his bedroom.

"What's going on here?"

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE: Welcome to the Universe! We hope you enjoyed this book and hope you'll continue to read more of our stories.**

 **The RealDone Universe as a whole is a fanfic of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, meaning that every book is connected to a larger story and are divided up into arcs like the movies are divided into phases. Check out our profile page for the timeline and be sure to look out for our follow up to this book which is a crossover with Frozen, Brave and How to train your Dragon called Dark Moon which we're hoping to upload soon.**

 **If you'd like to catch up, check out our other books, especially the Frozen books that this book ties into particularly. We thank you for your support and hope you'll be around next time as we continue our journey in the Fourth Arc. If you wanna see more, read more, favourite or follow and Await the Awesomeness as we dive into the Universe. Thanks for reading.**


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